Benzinga | Dec 15, 2021 11:40AM EST

B. Riley Sees Audacy's Risk-Reward Profile Skewing Heavily To The Upside

* B. Riley analyst Daniel Day upgraded Audacy Inc (NYSE:AUD) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $5, up from $4 (99.2% upside).

* The stock is trading near year-to-date lows, and the sentiment is "swinging toward overly pessimistic in recent weeks," Day says.

* While Audacy was the worst-hit relative to its peers in recent quarters by the sluggish recovery in advertisement spending, its earnings are at an inflection point, with "robust" political ad spending in 2022 likely to put a higher floor under near-term earnings.

* Day believes the stock's risk/reward profile is "skewing heavily to the upside."

* Audacy is a scaled, multi-platform audio content and entertainment company engaged in the segment of audio. It is a creator of original, premium audio.

* Price Action: AUD shares traded higher by 0.20% at $2.51 on the last check Wednesday.