Bank Of America Comments On DreamWorks Takeover Chatter, Removes Rating And Price Target

On Thursday, multiple sources speculated that Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) was in early talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation Skg Inc (NASDAQ: DWA) for as much as $35 per share, or $3.5 billion.

Thursday's reports follows previous speculation that Japan-based Softbank was interested in acquiring DreamWorks Animation, a deal which never came to fruition.

“A potential DreamWorks Animation/Hasbro combination could offer much greater strategic merit, in our view, as DreamWorks Animation has been aggressively attempting to build out its consumer products efforts and intellectual property portfolio while Hasbro has been focused on cultivating film and television drivers for its toy and gaming business,” Jessica Reif Cohen of Bank of America commented in a note to clients on Friday.

Reif Cohen adds that the outcome from any potential deal has yet to be seen. As such, shares of DreamWorks Animation will no longer trade on any fundamental metric. The analyst notes that “investors should no longer rely on our previous fundamental equity opinion or price objective.”