For Sale? Cablevision Peddling Assets—Or Maybe Not

Will Cablevision ever be able to shake its image as a company on the cusp of being sold? The latest speculation comes from Citigroup, which raised the MSO’s price target Mon to $28/share from $24 because of possible asset sales. CVC could sell one or more of 3 assets in the next few months—the cable biz (with Time Warner or Comcast seen as potential suitors), the cable networks and/or Madison Square Garden, Citigroup said in a note to clients (while noting "it’s possible—perhaps even likely—that all 3 asset sales do not happen"). That said, Citigroup came up with 8 different scenarios, with the most attractive one envisioning a sale of Cablevision in its entirety at share price of about $33. Without a sale, Citigroup pegs the share price at $24.85. It gave MSG a 75% probability of being sold, with the cable biz and cable nets each getting a 25% probability. The firm used those assigned probabilities on a weighted basis to devise the new $28 target price. As far as Cablevision’s Rainbow networks go, Citigroup named just about everyone as a potential bidder: Time Warner, Viacom, Disney, Comcast, CBS, NBC and Discovery. The nets could go as high at 13x ’07 EBITDA, putting AMC at $31/sub, IFC at $21 and WE at $11, Citigroup said. Cablevision shares closed down 0.83% at 22.84.