Wells Fargo upgrades EFX. (seriously.)

rforno

(x-posted at M* too)

You cannot make this stuff up. (I'm skimming the full report now) The irony runs rich in this, indeed.

Source: https://www.streetinsider.com/Analyst+Comments/Wells+Fargo+Upgrades+Equifax+(EFX)+to+Outperform,+Megabreach+Creates+Opportunity/13319550.html

Analyst William Warmington Jr. comments "We are upgrading EFX from Market Perform to Outperform following a 31% decline in the shares (vs. the S&P 500 +1.4%) since the company first announced a data breach impacting 143MM US consumers on 9/7/2017. The magnitude of the breach combined with a multitude of high-profile issues (notification timing, Congressional investigations/hearings insider stock sales, management turnover) have created, in our opinion, an attractive entry point for this high-quality consumer credit franchise. In this note we attempt to quantify the potential financial impact of the breach (framed as bull, base and bear cases) and are lowering our ests to reflect the base case. Despite the poor publicity, we believe EFX’s core B2B business will be largely unaffected."

JoJo26

This is the world that we live in. While I would strongly disagree with the "high-quality" comment, it is highly likely that investors have overreacted (they usually do to both the upside and downside).

rforno

A steaming pile of manure is still a steaming pile of manure, no matter how optimistic or over-reacty people/analysts are regarding it's stench.

JoJo26 said:

This is the world that we live in. While I would strongly disagree with the "high-quality" comment, it is highly likely that investors have overreacted (they usually do to both the upside and downside).

Ted

@MFO Members: It must be working !
Regards,
Ted
Last Price
$
102.00
Day Change
+3.67 | 3.73%

rforno

There are always the algos and idiots who blindly trade what someone suggests and on that alone. Pay no attention to the noise....

Ted said:

@MFO Members: It must be working !
Regards,
Ted

Last Price
$
102.00
Day Change
+3.67 | 3.73%

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

LewisBraham

If any major elected official--members of Congress, president, etc.--has their identity stolen and exploited for financial or political gain Equifax will be put out of business. If it's ordinary Americans, it depends on how many and how rich they are/were before the fraud. If no actual fraud occurs despite the breach, this will be a great buying opportunity. These uncertain scenarios need to be priced into the stock somehow.

When I think about it, it's not just the financial risk here, but a national security one. I imagine among the 143 million who've had info stolen are some people who have access to nuclear facilities and weapons systems. I wonder if this data can be used for some sort of access or virtual impersonation at government facilities' networks.

Ted

@Lewis: " If no actual fraud occurs despite the breach, this will be a great buying opportunity." You are correct, the actual fraud so far is less than 300,000, not 140 Million
Last Price
$103.20
Day Change
+4.87 | 4.95%
Regards,
ted

Old_Joe

"so far"