ADT shares predicted to rise 20 percent

An article in Barron's has the financial media world abuzz because it predicts shares of The ADT Corp. “could climb by more than 20 percent over the next year.”

The article in the latest edition of the weekly financial newspaper owned by Dow Jones cites the push into home automation by the publicly traded ADT, which spun off from Tyco in September. ADT Pulse, introduced in 2010, is the driver of much of ADT's growth, the article said.

Barron's also indirectly suggests ADT could buy a rival like Vivint or that ADT itself could be acquired. The article refloats the rumor that AT&T could acquire ADT.

The article concludes: “It may be time for investors to pick up the smartphone and tap the ADT Pulse icon.”

Here's some more details summarized by Reuters:

According to [Barrons], the Boca Raton, Florida-based company is already benefiting from a stronger housing market, rising demand for home healthcare services, and recent acquisitions, and commands 25 percent of the home alarm business and 14 percent of the small business segment.

… At the center of ADT's expansion effort is Pulse, a nearly 2-1/2 year old product that lets customers control settings remotely through devices such as smartphones and tablets.

While Pulse serves just 4 percent of ADT customers overall, the company in January said 19 percent of new customers use it.

ADT last month also set plans to quickly buy back $600 million of stock under an existing $2 billion repurchase program.

… It also said ADT could buy rivals, which are mainly owned by private equity firms such as Blackstone Group LP.  [which owns Vivint]

Based on recent transactions for security companies, ADT could fetch $59 per share in takeover, the newspaper said.

Shares of ADT closed yesterday at $46.57.