Agency Transparency Issue Not Going Away -- Pivotal Research

We are updating price targets on agency holding companies ahead of 3Q16 earnings, featuring new YE2017 price targets and updates to our company models. As Publicis has fallen off since our recent downgrade to Hold, but our price target is now slightly higher, we are now upgrading Publicis back to Buy. However, IPG offers more upside potential and remains our preferred stock among the group. Omnicom and WPP remain Hold-rated, as our new price targets remain sufficiently close (+/- 15%) to current trading levels. WPP remains the best-in-class holding company in the long run, although OMC is poised to remain very strong in the near term.