There were no surprises in WPP Group's (WPP) sales update for the first quarter, and we remain comfortable with our fair value estimate. WPP reported revenue growth of 7% in the first quarter (organic growth of 6.7%) as the company continued to benefit from a robust advertising environment. US sales improved 7%, and international growth in emerging markets like Asia-Pacific and Latin America was even stronger at 11.5% in the quarter. We expect long-term revenue growth to be driven by regions such as India, China, and South America, and we expect WPP's acquisitions to centre on these developing markets.
The advertising category was the strongest in the quarter with a 9.3% growth rate, which was expected given the advertising rebound that continues across media companies. WPP did not give any profitability results in its update, but we were encouraged that management indicated it continues to expect margin improvement in 2011. We believe WPP shares are about fairly valued at current prices, and perhaps ironically the most opportune time to invest in the shares occurs when the advertising market is weak or in decline, as the market projects poor recent results too far into the future.
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