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ABTL $7.02

ABTL target price
7.02
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AutoWeb, Inc.
Type
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: AUTO
Industry Automotive marketing services
Founded 1995
Founder Peter R. Ellis
John C. Bedrosian
Headquarters 18872 MacArthur Blvd
Irvine, California, U.S.
Key people
Jeffrey H. Coats, President & CEO;
Kimberly S. Boren, SVP & CFO;
Glenn Fuller, EVP, CLAO & Secretary;
William Ferriolo, EVP & COO
Net income
$1.387 Million
Website Autobytel.com

AutoWeb, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUTO) is an automotive media and marketing services company based in Irvine, California. It was known as Autobytel Inc. until October 2017.

In 1995, John Bedrosian and Peter Ellis founded Auto-by-Tel LLC. Bedrosian was one of the co-founders of National Medical Enterprises, and Ellis was a car dealership owner in Southern California who became well-known in the 1980s for his high amount of television advertisements. Auto-by-Tel was originally a syllabic abbreviation for Automobiles-by-Telephone but later became an abbreviation for Automobiles-by-Telecommunication, in order to incorporate the Internet into its name.

Auto-by-Tel was the first Internet company to advertise during the Super Bowl in 1997. The company went public in 1999.

In 2001, Auto-by-Tel LLC officially changed its name to Autobytel Inc. The company also acquired Autoweb.com that year.

On November 15, 2004, Autobytel announced to restate results for the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2003, the full 2003 fiscal year, and the first and second quarters of 2004, due to its accounting problems covering a number of issues surfaced after the disclosure of a review by its audit committee. After further review, on March 15, 2005, the company announced that it also expected to restate its financial statements for the full 2002 fiscal year and the first fiscal quarter of 2003. This led to the filing of a class action lawsuit against Autobytel alleging that it violated Securities Exchange Act by disseminating false statements and inflating its financial results.

On April 25, 2007, Autobytel was named one of California's 15 best technology innovators at the California Innovation Awards.

The financial crisis of 2008 forced the company to reduce costs primarily by laying off a big portion of the workforce. It also considered selling itself, but that plan was tabled in 2009. The FY2012 results showed a small profit, suggesting the layoff strategy worked at keeping the business running until the economy recovered.

In late 2013, Autobytel purchased a portion of AutoWeb, a pay-per-click advertising network for automotive manufacturers and dealers. AutoWeb was a startup founded in 2013 in Miami, Florida by Jose Vargas, Matias de Tezanos, and Julio Gonzalez-Arrivillaga. Later that year, Autobytel acquired a $2.5 million stake in AutoWeb. Before Autobytel's suggestion of AutoWeb, the startup's founders planned to call the company AdTarget. Autobytel had taken the name from a company it had acquired in 2001 named Autoweb. On October 1, 2015, Autobytel fully acquired AutoWeb, Inc., in an all-stock and warrant transaction.

In October 2017, Autobytel Inc. changed its name to AutoWeb, Inc. and changed its ticker from ABTL to AUTO.

Through AutoWeb's marketing network, the company provides both automotive dealers and manufacturers with brand and product marketing opportunities.

AutoWeb offers automotive dealers tools to manage their businesses. Specific products include: the Rapid Response program, designed to connect dealers to online customers via phone, as well as the Email Manager program, which manages long-term email campaigns on behalf of the dealership. Additionally, LeadCall, a live call program that sets in-dealership appointments and scores customer readiness to buy for auto dealers.

Q reports

Period Date Adjusted Actuals EPS GAAP EPS

Ratings

2016-05-12 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $28.00
2016-05-06 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $28.00
2016-03-14 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00
2016-03-11 Boost Price Target Ascendiant Capital Markets Buy $28.00 to $29.00
2016-03-09 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00
2016-02-28 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00
2016-02-23 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00
2015-11-11 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00
2015-11-06 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00
2015-10-18 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00
2015-10-13 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50 to $29.00
2015-10-07 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-10-02 Boost Price Target Lake Street Capital Buy $20.00 to $25.00
2015-10-02 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-09-19 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-09-14 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-08-12 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-08-07 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-07-07 Initiated Coverage Barrington Research Outperform $22.00
2015-07-04 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-06-29 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-05-23 Reiterated Rating Ascendiant Capital Markets Buy $19.00 to $20.00
2015-05-22 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $20.50
2015-05-06 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $19.00
2015-04-15 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $19.00
2015-03-02 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $19.00
2015-02-23 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $19.00
2015-01-23 Upgrade Ascendiant Capital Markets Hold to Buy $13.00
2015-01-13 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $19.00
2015-01-06 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $19.00
2014-08-01 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $21.00 to $19.00
2014-04-28 Initiated Coverage Ascendiant Capital Markets Hold
2014-04-02 Boost Price Target B. Riley $21.50 to $22.00
2014-01-31 Downgrade Ascendiant Capital Markets Buy to Hold $15.00
2014-01-14 Boost Price Target Roth Capital $10.50 to $15.00
2013-12-24 Boost Price Target B. Riley $10.00 to $18.50
2013-11-26 Boost Price Target Ascendiant Capital Markets Buy $10.00 to $15.00
2013-11-11 Boost Price Target Roth Capital Buy $10.50
2013-11-08 Boost Price Target B. Riley Buy $8.50 to $10.00
2013-10-16 Initiated Coverage Lake Street Capital Buy
2013-10-07 Boost Price Target B. Riley Buy $7.00 to $8.50
2012-08-01 Reiterated Ascendiant Capital Markets Strong Buy $10 to $7
2009-03-13 Reiterated Northland Securities Outperform $1.75 to $0.75
2008-08-06 Reiterated Northland Securities Outperform $5 to $2.50
2007-08-13 Initiated Northland Securities Outperform $5
2016-05-12 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $28.00
2016-05-06 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $28.00
2016-03-14 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00
2016-03-11 Boost Price Target Ascendiant Capital Markets Buy $28.00 to $29.00
2016-03-09 Reiterated Rating B. Riley Buy $29.00

There is presents forecasts of rating agencies and recommendations for investors about this ticker

Major Shareholders

Name Relationship Total Shares Holding stocks
Raging Capital Management, LLC 28.14%  (2540252) ABTL / IMMR /
Tezanos Matias de Chief Strategy Officer 22.06%  (1991738) ABTL /
Vargas Jose Sr Chief Revenue Officer 19.69%  (1777541) ABTL /
Ceiba International Corp 17.46%  (1576145) ABTL /
Auto Holdings Ltd. 17.46%  (1576145) ABTL /
International Development & Financial Corp. 17.46%  (1576145) ABTL /
IDC Financial S.A. 16.85%  (1521245) ABTL /
Klose Pieters Juan Christian 16.85%  (1521245) ABTL /
CCM MASTER QUALIFIED FUND LTD 9.53%  (860558) ABTL / HOLL /
Aitkenhead Castillo Richard 7.84%  (708129) ABTL /
Klose de Ojeda John Peter 7.84%  (708129) ABTL /
PF Auto, Inc. 7.76%  (700752) ABTL /
FERRIOLO WILLIAM SVP Consumer Acq & Product Dev 2.93%  (264889) ABTL /
COATS JEFFREY H President & CEO 1.17%  (105275) ABTL /
Fuller Glenn Evan EVP, CLO & Secretary 0.52%  (46700) ABTL /
BOREN KIM SVP Analytics & Advertisng Ops 0.46%  (41260) ABTL /
STEERMAN JOHN SVP, Lead & Web Product Dev 0.41%  (36860) ABTL /
SKOCILIC JOHN J JR SVP, Technology 0.40%  (36309) ABTL /
FUCHS MICHAEL J 0.36%  (32380) ABTL /
Ozima Wesley VP & Controller 0.19%  (17317) ABTL /
ROSS MARK R 0.16%  (14408) ABTL /
CARPENTER MICHAEL A 0.16%  (14000) ABTL / ALLY / CIT /
DeWalt Curtis E SVP & Chief Financial Officer 0.13%  (11415) ABTL /
KAPLAN MARK N 0.11%  (10000) ABTL /
Thompson Janet M 0.06%  (5040) ABTL /
Stibel Jeffrey M 0.06%  (5000) ABTL /
Helberg James EVP Product, Marketing & Analy 0.05%  (4500) ABTL /
Lind Stephen D EVP, Corporate Development 0.04%  (3939) ABTL /
DUPREE PHILLIP W. EVP, President Dealer Services 0.01%  (1000) ABTL /