Analysts Upbeat On Ticketmaster

NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Ticketmaster's share price is up after a positive rating by financial analyst Ben Mogil from investment banker Thomas Weisel Partners.

According to a story in Ticket News, Weisel changed Ticketmaster's rating from "Market Weight" to "Overweight" and lent weight to subsequent comments made by Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff during a recent Q&A session with investors where Azoff stated that dynamic ticket pricing would come online by next year.

"Driving our now favorable view is the belief that while ticket re-selling remains the industry’s hot potato, the introduction of dynamic ticket pricing in the primary market will be a meaningful driver of revenue and cash flow for Ticketmaster," analyst Ben Mogil wrote.

"Dynamic ticketing will result in some of the consumer surplus which has been dissipated by the current ticket price system being recaptured in the primary market. The impact on re-selling will likely be that all but the strongest shows where the re-sale premiums are highest will be impacted by these changes in the primary market." Mogil added.

Furthermore, despite assurances from messrs. Azoff and Rapino that the merger will complete, Mogil went on to note that he expects that Ticketmaster Entertainment to be in good shape to survive if the merger does not come to pass.

In the last week, Ticketmaster's stock is up from 10.00 to 11.66. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers