Citi Out Bullish On Cision, Says Company Is Keyed Into 'Critical' Digital Marketing Trend

Last week, public relations and media software company Cision Ltd. CISN announced its acquisition of visual recognition technology from ShareIQ. Citi evaluated Cision's stock ahead of its Aug. 8 second-quarter earnings report. 

The Analyst

Citi analyst Tyler Radke initiated coverage of Cision with a Buy rating and $21 price target.

The Thesis

Cision is an attractive asset, with plans to accelerate growth and improve margins, Radke said in the initiation note. (See the analyst's track record here.) 

“We also see a call option on a critical trend in digital marketing — the shift to ‘earned’ media, which is tracking and measuring the impact of bloggers, social influencers, etc. This is not in the numbers and we believe modest success here could support a $29 bull case." 

Citi expects revenue growth to increase from a 3-percent year-over-year pace to 10 percent year-over-year by 2021, in addition to strong margin improvements.

" ... We see Cision's new data attribution product Cision Impact as a way for organizations to track and measure earned media — potentially for the first time," Radke said. 

Price Action

Cision shares were trading up 1.13 percent to $15.61 at the time of publication Thursday. 

Related Links: 

Benzinga's Top Upgrades, Downgrades For August 2, 2018 

Cision Shares Are A 'Unique, Underappreciated' Investment Opportunity, Baird Says In Bullish Initiation

Photo courtesy of Cision.