UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Reiterates On VimpelCom Ltd. On No Signs Of Recovery

In a report published Thursday, Morgan Stanley analyst Cesar Tiron reiterated an Equal-Weight rating on VimpelCom Ltd. (NASDAQ: VIP), but lowered the price target from $10.20 to $9.00.

In the report, Morgan Stanley noted, “Recovery in Russia [is] unlikely before 2015. We estimate VIP lost another 40bps revenue market share in 1Q14 after a 350bps loss over the past 4 years. While we highlight management delivery on network roll-out and distribution improvement, this has not yet translated into top line improvement.

"Our conclusion is that i) VIP could be losing high-end subscribers due to network perception – it lost 3.1m subscribers over the past 2 quarters and ARPU declined 3.4% YoY in 1Q14; and ii) the move of customers into bundles may not be proceeding as smoothly as planned – VIP faced a similar issue in the Ukraine.”

VimpelCom Ltd. closed on Wednesday at $8.26.