S&P REITERATES BUY OPINION ON SHARES OF COGENT INC
(Standard & Poor's)
Q3 EPS of $0.06 vs. $0.13 is $0.03 below our estimate. Contracts that were expected to close in the quarter did not, but are expected to be signed in Q4. Still, we believe that government agencies are reluctant to sign contracts, and we lower our '09 revenue growth estimate to 5% from 11%. We see improvements in '10, but we believe that visibility is limited, given the demands for a limited amount of federal dollars. We are lowering our '09 EPS estimate by $0.04 to $0.35, and '10's by $0.03, to $0.44. We are also cutting our P/E-based 12-month target price by $2 to $11.