IAC Stocks Upgraded By Barclays, Estimate Tinder Could Be Worth $1.1bn

IAC stocks have been upgraded by Barclays investment analysts, who think that Tinder could be worth $1.1bn by 2015.

Barclays upgraded their stock rating of IAC from equal weight to overweight, and increased its price target from 72 to 87.

This was due to forthcoming revenue expected from a monetised Tinder, a stabilising of IAC’s search and applications segment, and a well-performing Vimeo.

The report, by Barclays analyst Christopher Merwin, estimates that Tinder could make $180m in 2015, as their active daily users reach 20m.

Merwin said: “In 2015, we expect Match management will begin monetizing Tinder by serving ads, offering freemium subscriptions, and incorporating microtransactions.”

The analyst said that Match Group was worth around $5.3bn, and was set to increase its dominance in the online dating industry.

Merwin said: “We believe the recently formed Match Group is very well positioned to increase its share in the expanding online dating market. We expect segment revenue growth will reaccelerate materially to 36% year over year in 2015 from 13% year over year in 2013.”

Earlier in the year, Chairman of Match Group, Gregory Blatt said that Tinder could make $75m in its first year, through a combination of monetisation strategies “like our other sites”.