There’s Monster news today with the international job board lauded in a Barron’s report for its aggressive cost-cutting and wise investments. The report, followed by an upgrade by UBS, helped boost shares of the publicly traded company to a year high of $18.57.
The closing price is a bit more than triple the $5.95 low for the year Monster hit on March 10.
The bullish article, “Turning Into A Monster Of A Competitor,” talks about Monster’s international reach, noting it accounts for 45 percent of the company’s revenue. The article approvingly cites the acquisition of China.HR and Trovix as well as the makeover of its website, with its new emphasis on tools for the passive job seeker.
These steps, plus a reorganization of its sales force and the improving global economy, says Barron’s, makes Monster “a good long-term bet.”
As if to second that recommendation, UBS Investment Research upgraded Monster Monday to “Buy” from “Neutral” while raising the price target to $27 from $15. It’s the second “Buy” recommendation in a month for Monster. The first was from Oscar Gruss & Son.
Meanwhile, Monster has launched a new round of humorous commercials for the career tools it introduced earlier this year.
Riffing on the popular CSI franchise, one of the new commercials has a detective’s tag-along friend mucking up the evidence in a crime scene. Another has a job shadower pulling on surgical gloves anticipating he’ll assist in what the video implies will be a proctology exam as the patient frets and the doctors says no.
“Until there’s take your friend to work day,” says the voiceover, “There’s career mapping.”
Adweek called the videos “mildly amusing.” They’re better than that, even if they’re not knee-slapping hysterical, which, considering the number of desperate job seekers out there, might not have been entirely appropriate.