SBC Communications upgraded to "outperform" - update

07/25/05 - Raymond James

NEW YORK, July 25 (newratings.com) - Analyst Frank G Louthan of Raymond James upgrades SBC Communications Inc (SBC) from "underperform" to "outperform," while raising his estimates for the company. The target price is set to $26.

In a research note published on July 22, the analyst mentions that the company's margins have been boosted in the recent past by reduced marketing and infrastructure costs and improved operations. SBC Communications is set to benefit significantly in the forthcoming few months from the opportunity to lower its costs aggressively via headcount reductions and improved systems, the analyst says. The EPS estimates for 2005 and 2006 have been raised from $1.42 to $1.55 and from $1.31 to $1.45, respectively.