Needham & Company Downgrades AOL, Inc. (AOL) to Hold

Needham & Company downgraded AOL, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) from Buy to Hold on the pending $50/share takeover by Verizon.

Analyst Laura Martin commented, "We are downgrading AOL to Hold from Buy based on its announced $50/share acquisition by Verizon (VZ). We had hoped for another bidder, but reading through papers filed by AOL yesterday, it appears that three other companies had signed NDRs with AOL prior to VZ’s final bid. Of these, two never made a bid for AOL, and a third company made a bid for only a portion of AOL’s assets. These details convince us that it is unlikely that there will be a higher bid from another company for all of AOL. Since AOL’s current share price is trading slightly above the $50/share VZ deal price, we downgrade AOL to Hold."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on AOL, Inc. click here. For more ratings news on AOL, Inc. click here.

Shares of AOL, Inc. closed at $50.14 yesterday.

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