AcuityAds gets new $6.00 target at Echelon Wealth Partners

A new acquisition by AcuityAds (AcuityAds Stock Quote, Chart, News: TSXV:AT) has Echelon Wealth Partners analyst Rob Goff feeling bullish about the company.

On Friday, AcuityAds announced it had completed the previosuly announced acquisition of Boston-based programmatic platform provider Visible Measures Corp. for approximately (US) $10-million.

“We are extremely excited about the integration of Visible Measures’ video analytics technology into Acuity’s world-class media execution platform and are looking forward to seeing the compelling advantages of offering their services to our existing clients,” said CEO Tal Hayek. “Video advertising is the fastest-growing segment of the digital advertising market, and the addition of Visible Measures’ offerings significantly bolsters our video footprint and enhances our value proposition for marketers as an industry-leading multichannel platform for all of their digital advertising initiatives.”

Goff says this is a key pick up for Acuity.

“The combination of Visible Measures’ video analytics expertise with AcuityAds’ platform will provide marketers with a more comprehensive solution for managing their digital marketing initiatives, while strengthening AcuityAds’ position in the programmatic TV space,” says the analyst. “All revenue was managed services, but AcuityAds has noted that Visible Measures’ platforms can be used with their existing hybrid and self-service businesses. We believe Visible Measures should turn EBITDA positive within 2017 as upfront cost synergies are realized. We believe cost savings should be considered on a net basis, where AcuityAds could invest to strengthen Visible Measures’ sales capabilities and considering upfront product and organization integration costs. We look for Visible Measure to achieve 7%-9% EBITDA margins within 2017.”

In a research update to clients today, Goff maintained his “Speculative Buy” rating, but raised his one-year price target on AT from $4.80 to $6.00, implying a return of 26.1 per cent at the time of publication.

Goff believes AcuityAds will generate EBITDA of $4.7-million on a topline of $78.2-million in fiscal 2017.