Zacks: Prospects good for Alvarion

While Piper Jaffray commenced coverage of WiMAX vendor Alvarion last week with an underweight rating [1], Zacks Investment Research upgraded its rating to "buy" for the infrastructure provider on the heals of the federal government's release of guidelines for the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus loan money.

Zacks said its upgrade follows a series of impressive contract awards to deploy several large-scale WiMAX networks, including the $100 million deal with Open Range Communications. The firm also cited the vendor's more than 250 WiMAX deployments in diversified geographic regions.

"According to our assessment, higher bandwidth requirements and an increasing percentage of Alvarion's overall business directed to WiMAX offerings are expected to drive revenue higher in future reporting periods. Furthermore, the company maintains a strong balance sheet and a respectable book-to-bill ratio," Zacks said. It also cited federal stimulus money as furthering the prospects for Alvarion.

For more:
- check out Zacks.com [2]

Related articles:
Piper Jaffray initiates coverage of Alvarion [1], spells out cautious market for WiMAX
Alvarion: No waning interest in WiMAX, just no financing [3]
Alvarion lassos $100M WiMAX deal with Open Range [4]
Alvarion scores WiMAX contract for rural America [5]