- ComScore (SCOR -28.9%) -- on the skids today after saying it would miss yet another compliance deadline tied to an ongoing restatement of its financials -- has had its Buy rating pulled by Oppenheimer.
- The news means likely delisting of comScore from Nasdaq, which will call for selling by index funds and mutual funds.
- And while Oppenheimer says checks indicate "business as usual," it expects that shareholder WPP (WPPGY) will push for a company sale late this year. It's gone from Outperform to "Not Rated" and pulled its $35 price target (shares have tumbled from $30.74 to $23.06 today and still falling into the close).
- Who could buy comScore? The firm thinks Adobe, Oracle and IBM are likely suitors, but "we believe there is no rush ahead of completion of the re-audit. However, we believe comparable assets trade at 3-5x cash sales."
- Much more on comScore's accounting problems