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| April 2014 |
| Archives |
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| Wednesday, April 30, 2014, 5:29 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Yelp Reports Strong Q1, Raises '14 Revenue Guide |
Yelp (YELP, $60.40 after hours, +3.5%) reports Q1 revenue of $76.4 million (+65% y/y), beating the consensus estimate of $75 million. The company lost four cents a share, two cents above the consensus.
*Average monthly unique visitors rose 30% to ~132 million
*Average monthly mobile unique visitors rose 52% to ~61 million
*60% of all searches & 35% of new reviews came via mobile devices
For Q2, the company expects revenue of $85 million to $86 million, vs. the consensus of $85.4 million.
For 2014, Yelp raises its revenue guidance range to $363 million-$367 million from $353 million-$358 million previously. The consensus is $358.9 million.
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| Wednesday, April 30, 2014, 3:03 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Facebook |
Facebook (FB, $59.52) shares have been finding buyers around the $55 level. The price chart shows the stock in a consolidation phase. The RSI is back to 47.0. There is short-term resistance in the $63.44 to $63.65 range.
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| Wednesday, April 30, 2014, 11:00 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| NetSuite Attempts to Stabilize |
After dipping to a low of $70.32 yesterday and then closing up 4.4%, shares of NetSuite (N, $77.17) are trying to stabilize around current levels. The stock today opened weak, hitting an early low of $75.66, but is now in the green for the session.
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| Wednesday, April 30, 2014, 10:04 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Cowen Lowers Twitter Target to $26 |
Cowen reduces its Twitter (TWTR, $37.50) price target to $26 from $32 on increased OpEx and CapEx assumptions. In January, the firm started Twitter at ‘Underperform’ (when the shares were trading around $59) based on limited pricing power given intense competition on the advertising front from Facebook and LinkedIn.
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| Wednesday, April 30, 2014, 9:11 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| BMO Capital Cuts Twitter Target |
BMO Capital reduces its Twitter (TWTR, $37.50 pre market, -12%) price target to $42 from $53, saying user growth in Q1 was not good enough given the high valuation.
While sequential growth in MAUs increased to 5.8% from 3.8% in Q4, year over year growth continues to decelerate:
2014-Q1: +25%
2013-Q4: +30%
2013-Q3: +38%
2013-Q2: +44%
2013-Q1: +47%
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| Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 4:22 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Twitter Reports Q1 Results |
Twitter (TWTR, $39.14 after hours, -8.1%) reports Q1 EPS of 0.0 cents, three cents above the consensus estimate, on revenue of $250.5 million (+119.7% y/y), above the consensus of $241.7 million.
Ad revenue advanced 125% to $226 million. Mobile ads were about 80% of total ad revenue.
*Average monthly active users (MAUs): 255 million, +25% y/y--IN LINE
*Mobile MAUs: 198 million +31% y/y (78% of total MAUs)
*Timeline views: 157 billion +15% y/y, +6% seq.
For Q2, the company sees revenue of $270 million to $280 million, vs. the consensus of $273.2 million.
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| Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 1:14 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| ServiceNow Rebounds 6% |
ServiceNow (NOW, $49.59) shares today are rallying 6.8% on heavy volume.
Yesterday, the stock traded down to $44.17, a new low for the recent correction. The shares are off 30.9% from the all-time high of $71.80 from February 27.
Following the upward guidance revision, the 2014 consensus revenue estimate has risen to $655.2 million (growth of 54.3%) from $644.5 million last week.
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| Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 11:01 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Tiger Global Goes Big into Zillow |
Hedge fund Tiger Global Management discloses a 9.5% stake in Zillow (Z, $95.65), the provider of online real-estate data. The firm owns 3.13 million shares.
Zillow shares today are up more than 5% on the news.
For more on Zillow, see TechStock Radar--April 22, 2014.
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| Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 10:16 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Canaccord Bullish on ServiceNow |
Canaccord says ServiceNow (NOW, $48.11) remains a top pick following the upbeat analyst day. The firm, which maintains its ‘Buy’ rating and $70 price target, sees ServiceNow as being in the early stages of a large systems upgrade cycle. The company is in only 21% of the Global 2000 accounts, so there is plenty of room for expansion.
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| Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 9:19 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Northland Positive on NetSuite |
Northland Capital reduces its NetSuite (N, $73.59) price target to $100 from $125 to reflect the recent multiple contraction across the SaaS segment, but reiterates its ‘Outperform’ rating following last night’s solid Q1 results. The firm expects NetSuite to deliver sustained 30%+ billings growth over the near term.
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| Monday, April 28, 2014, 4:51 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| NetSuite Q1 Revenue +34%, Beats Consensus |
NetSuite (N, $73.59), a provider of cloud-based ERP solutions, reports Q1 EPS of six cents, four cents above the consensus estimate, on revenue of $123 million (+34% y/y), vs. the consensus of $120.9 million.
NetSuite shares are down 39% from the all-time high of $120.77 reached on February 27.
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| Monday, April 28, 2014, 3:54 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Apple Hits New 52-Week High |
Following last week’s strong earnings report, portfolio managers in this tough market are turning to Apple (AAPL, $594.92) as a safety holding.
The stock today is up 4%; earlier, it hit a new 52-week high at $595.75.
The fiscal 2014 (Sept.) consensus EPS estimate over the past week has risen to $43.98 from $42.64. The Street-high estimate stands at $45.67.
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| Monday, April 28, 2014, 11:38 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Salesforce |
Salesforce (CRM, $49.95) shares this morning are under heavy selling pressure after Friday's close below the 200-day moving average at $53.56.
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| Monday, April 28, 2014, 10:32 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| A Round-Trip for FireEye Shares |
Shares of IT security vendor FireEye (FEYE, $41.49) have now done a round trip since the Mandiant acquisition was announced on January 3 and sparked a huge rally.
On January 2, the stock closed at $41.13. It then opened the next day at $50.69 and closed at $57.02. It ran up to a new all-time high of $97.35 on March 5.
FireEye shares this morning hit an intraday low of $39.68.
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| Monday, April 28, 2014, 9:21 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Apple |
Apple (AAPL, $571.94) shares are nearing the 52-week high of $575.14. Both the 50- and 200-day moving averages are trending up. The RSI is up to 71.7.
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| Friday, April 25, 2014, 11:19 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Yelp |
For now, shares of Yelp (YELP, $60.01) are holding the April 15 low of $58.81 after failing on the rebound to the 200-day moving average. The RSI is back down to 32.5.
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| Friday, April 25, 2014, 9:04 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Needham Upgrades Gigamon |
Needham upgrades Gigamon (GIMO, $17.45 pre market, +8.5%), a provider of networking traffic intelligence solutions, to ‘Strong Buy’ with a price target of $34 because it thinks the shares are oversold following the Q1 warning earlier this month.
Needham says Gigamon is a leader in a rapidly growing networking segment that is becoming increasingly strategic. The firm expects 20%+ growth, helped out by expanding opportunities in the international and government segments, and a margin rebound.
Last night, Gigamon reported Q1 revenue growth of 23%.
For more on Gigamon, see TechStock Radar--April 7, 8 & 9, 2014.
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| Thursday, April 24, 2014, 2:17 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| ServiceNow Off 5% Despite Beat & Raise |
Shares of ServiceNow (NOW, $49.96), a provider of cloud-based enterprise IT management solutions, today are down 5.8% despite the company’s 62% Q1 revenue growth.
Revenue of $139.1 million beat the consensus of $134.6 million. Billings rose 64% to $180.8 million.
For Q2, the company offered upside guidance: revenue of $160 million to $162 million (growth of 57% to 58%), vs. the consensus of $156.6 million.
ServiceNow raised 2014 guidance to a range of $652 million-$657 million (growth of 54% to 55%) from $640 million-$645 million previously. The consensus is $644.5 million.
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| Thursday, April 24, 2014, 12:03 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Raymond James Lifts Facebook Target |
Raymond James lifts its Facebook (FB, $62.52) price target to $77 from $71 after the company last night reported accelerating ad revenue, margin expansion and positive user engagement trends for Q1. The firm looks for continued strong ad demand (especially from mobile). For 2014, Raymond James ups its EPS estimate to $1.55 from $1.26.
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| Thursday, April 24, 2014, 11:06 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| CLSA Upgrades Apple |
CLSA upgrades Apple (AAPL, $565.83) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $695, saying earnings momentum is ready to accelerate into the new product cycle.
Ahead of the next iPhone upgrade cycle, revenue guidance for fiscal Q3 (June) of $36 billion to $38 billion (consensus is $37.8 billion) was a bit of a relief, as some on Wall Street were expecting a guide down. Gross margin guidance of 37% to 38% is in line with the consensus of ~37.5%.
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| Thursday, April 24, 2014, 9:27 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Cowen Ups Apple Target to $630 |
Cowen raises its Apple (AAPL, $570 pre market, +8.6%) price target to $630 from $590 following strong fiscal Q2 (March) results driven by iPhone sales (including robust demand for the 4S in emerging markets).
For the March quarter, Apple reported EPS of $11.62, $1.45 above the consensus estimate, on revenue of $45.65 billion, vs. the consensus of $43.5 billion.
The big number for the quarter: iPhone shipments of 43.7 million units came in well above the consensus of 37.9 million units.
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| Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 5:14 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Apple Announces 7-for-1 Stock Split |
Apple (AAPL, $566 after hours, +7.9%) announces a 7-for-1 stock split. Shareholders of record as of June 2 will receive six additional shares for every share held. Split-adjusted trading begins on June 9.
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| Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 3:07 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Cowen Remains Positive on VMware |
Cowen remains upbeat on VMware (VMW, $95.85), saying the company remains well positioned for growth, driven by larger infrastructure build-outs, SMB virtualization activity, an expanding product portfolio gaining momentum (including NSX and Virtual SAN) and a meaningful ELA renewal tailwind.
The firm maintains its ‘Outperform’ rating, but reduces its price target to $107 from $110.
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| Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 11:05 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| OpCo & Pacific Crest Defend VMware |
Pacific Crest recommends VMware (VMW, $96.46) shares on weakness (the morning low stands at $93.80), saying the longer-term outlook remains healthy despite seasonally slower bookings growth in Q1. The firm maintains its price target of $115.
OpCo also thinks VMware should be bought on the pullback, maintaining its target of $110.
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| Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 10:08 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Roth Bullish on Ultimate |
Roth Capital thinks the recent pullback in shares of Ultimate Software (ULTI, $124.26), a provider of cloud-based HCM solutions, presents one of the best entry points in recent years, saying the company has upside potential given that it believes Q1 guidance was conservative.
The stock, which rose 62% in 2013, is down from its all-time high of $171.96 reached in February. Roth maintains its price target of $180.
For more on the Ultimate growth story, see the April 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector. Order the latest issue here for download to your Kindle or Kindle for iPad/iPhone reading app.
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| Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 9:02 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| VMware Hit By Bookings Growth Concerns |
Shares of VMware (VMW, $99.15 pre market, -5.7%) are down more than 5% in pre-market trading on concerns about Q1 bookings growth coming in at less than 10%.
ELAs represented 25% of bookings in the seasonally slower first quarter (down from 40% in Q4), as management said some of these large deals took longer to close.
Bookings performance is expected to accelerate in Q2. COO Carl Eschenbach on the call last night said VMware is “off to a solid start in Q2” and has “already closed a number of ELAs in April.”
Revenue guidance for 2014 was reaffirmed at $5.94 billion to $6.1 billion, representing growth of 14% to 17%.
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| Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 3:59 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Raymond James Positive on ServiceNow |
Raymond James is positive on ServiceNow (NOW, $55.27) headed into the release of Q1 results tomorrow after the close (consensus revenue estimate: $134.6 million; growth of 56.7%).
According to the firm, discussions with partners and ITSM (IT service management) channels indicate ServiceNow’s business and positioning remain strong. New customers have not pushed back on the new tiered and end-user-based pricing models, says the analyst.
Also, ServiceNow has been able to push through price increases on renewals, according to Raymond James.
The firm calls ServiceNow “a pioneer and leader in SaaS-based ITSM,” saying the company has the ability to displace legacy on-premise ITSM vendors (including BMC Software and Hewlett-Packard), expand its presence within the customer base (in both ITSM and new packaged operations management applications) and drive usage of its business workflow platform.
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| Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 12:11 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Recent IPO Rubicon Project Pops 9% |
Shares of recent IPO Rubicon Project (RUBI, $22.04)--a provider of a cloud-based software platform that automates the buying and selling of online ads--today are rallying 9% on no news.
Rubicon went public at the start of this month at $15 a share and opened for trading at $17.50.
For more on Rubicon’s growth story, see the April 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector. Order the latest issue here for download to your Kindle or Kindle for iPad/iPhone reading app.
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| Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 10:45 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Davidson Cautious on Nimble Storage |
DA Davidson starts coverage of Nimble Storage (NMBL, $34.67) at ‘Underperform’ with a price target of $26.50. The firm believes Nimble is well positioned for continued growth in the storage market thanks to the performance benefits of its flash technology, but sees the growth potential already priced into the shares.
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| Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 9:11 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Credit Suisse Upgrades Facebook |
Credit Suisse upgrades Facebook (FB, $61.24) to ‘Outperform’ and raises its price target to $87 from $65, saying the company has the ability over the next several years to meaningfully boost revenue per user.
The firm argues that Facebook will be able to drive revenue growth without a material lift in ad loads and that Wall Street is too conservative in terms of underestimating the long-term monetization potential of upcoming new products-- including premium video ads, Instagram ads and graph search.
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| Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 9:01 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| CRT Capital Downgrades Zillow |
CRT Capital downgrades Zillow (Z, $103) to ‘Fair Value’ on valuation.
Zillow shares yesterday hit a new all-time high of $104.68, a quick rebound from the April 15 low of $84.64.
The firm still believes Zillow is best positioned to continue to take market share from the competition in the online real estate segment. CRT Capital points out that Zillow is diversifying its revenue base by investing in new growth areas, such as rentals and mortgages.
The 2014 consensus revenue estimate of $294.6 million indicates growth of 49.2%.
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| Monday, April 21, 2014, 4:26 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Netflix Plans Price Increases |
Netflix (NFLX, $373 after hours, +7%) plans to raise prices for new streaming members by $1 to $2 a month. The price increases, set to hit later this quarter, would vary by country. According to CFO David Wells, existing members will stay at their current pricing ($7.99 in the U.S.) for “a generous time period.”
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| Monday, April 21, 2014, 12:28 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Splunk |
Splunk (SPLK, $63.80) shares were once again turned away at the 200-day moving average of $66.43. The stock continues to try to consolidate after the recent pullback.
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| Monday, April 21, 2014, 10:07 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Nimble Storage on Track to Disrupt |
On the first earnings call for Nimble Storage (NMBL, $36.50) since going public in December at $21
a share (the opening trade was $31.10), CEO Suresh Vasudevan in February said
the company, a provider of a flash-optimized hybrid storage platform, was
founded on the belief that it could transform storage architectures via two key
disruptors: flash and cloud connectivity.
The disruption is paying off for Nimble: revenue in fiscal
2014 (Jan.) jumped 134% to $125.7 million. Analysts are looking for revenue growth over this year and next
to average 54%.
After running up to a post-IPO high of $58 in late February,
Nimble shares retreated nearly 49% to the April 15 low of $29.75. With the
recent rebound in the stock, Nimble’s market cap stands at $2.62 billion, 12.8
times the fiscal 2015 (January) consensus revenue estimate of $203.8 million
(the Street-high estimate is $219.1 million) and 8.7 times the fiscal 2016
consensus of $299.4 million.
Nimble’s Cache-Accelerated Sequential Layout (CASL) file
system software and InfoSight cloud-based storage management system are the
company’s key technology differentiators. According to Vasudevan, the flash
offering involved a fundamental storage-system redesign from the ground up, as
opposed to the bolt-on strategy used by legacy vendors, which simply
incorporates flash into disk-centric architectures.
CASL represents a strong value proposition for customers,
offering greater performance in a more capital-efficient manner (reduced
initial and operating costs) than the competition. The software also provides
excellent scalability across both performance-intensive flash-centric workloads
and capacity-intensive disk-centric workloads, along with solid data protection
(thanks to Nimble’s point-in-time snapshot technology) and recovery.
As for InfoSight, cloud connectivity radically simplifies
storage management, making on-premise monitoring of storage seem what Vasudevan
calls “archaic.” Using Big Data
analytics and other capabilities embedded across the platform to proactively
monitor the health, capacity and performance of customer systems, InfoSight
provides real-time operational insights to IT teams at both Nimble and end
customers.
Of the company’s 2,645 end customers (the latest quarter saw
a record 527 new additions), there are about 200 in the beta trial for Nimble’s
scale-out software, which allows multiple storage systems to be combined into
one centrally managed cluster to improve operating efficiencies.
The scale-out offering will soon be generally available to
all customers, which should result in more incremental sales across the base.
Another positive, the scale-out model generally enables Nimble to better
compete in larger enterprise deployments requiring a lot of capacity.
In fiscal Q4, revenue advanced 107% to $41.7 million,
topping the consensus estimate of $38 million. Product revenue rose 99% to
$37.1 million, as the company shipped a record 916 systems. Gross margin of
67.2% rose 540 basis points year over year (the long-term model calls for gross
margin in the 63% to 65% range, with product gross margin of 66% to 67%).
Thanks in part to the large number of new additions in the
latest quarter, the company’s total customer base in fiscal 2014 jumped 142%
year over year, and importantly, no single end-customer accounted for more than
1% of orders.
In FQ4, Nimble generated a third of its bookings from
existing customers. The company’s land-and-expand strategy sees the average
customer spend 2.1x the initial sale within two years; there’s a 4.1x
incremental spend among the 50 largest customers.
While still focusing on midsize accounts, Nimble continues
to execute well on diversifying its customer base to add a greater number of
larger enterprises (the top 5000 worldwide by revenue) and cloud service
providers.
The company now counts more than 180 large enterprises,
including many Fortune 500 companies, and 240 cloud service providers among the
base. To better address the needs of large enterprises, Nimble is on track to
support Fibre Channel environments by the end of fiscal 2015.
Another area of growth involves international expansion. In
FQ4, the EMEA and Asia Pacific/Japan regions represented nearly 17% of bookings
(a record contribution), driven by increased sales capacity. Nimble now has a
direct sales presence in 12 countries and distribution arrangements in 16
additional countries. In the latest quarter, Nimble finalized a distribution
agreement with Toshiba to help broaden its reach in the Japanese market.
The channel is very important to Nimble, as 97% of fiscal
2014 bookings flowed through partners. Last year, the number of channel
partners more than doubled to 900+. Channel engagement is so strong that partners
even handle many of Nimble’s largest deals. The company’s overall average deal
size is around $60,000.
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| Monday, April 21, 2014, 9:01 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| UBS Upgrades Cornerstone |
UBS upgrades Cornerstone OnDemand (CSOD, $39.31), a provider of cloud-based HCM solutions, to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $60 based on valuation and rebound potential following the sharp sell-off in the shares from the February high of $61.85.
The firm says short-term sentiment around this name has become extremely negative despite solid revenue growth opportunities. For 2014, the consensus revenue estimate indicates growth of 45%.
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| Thursday, April 17, 2014, 3:24 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Cisco Holding Strong |
Shares of Cisco Systems (CSCO, $23.24), now back above the 200-day moving average of $22.66, are approaching short-term resistance at $23.35. The RSI is strong, on the rise from 63.5.
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| Thursday, April 17, 2014, 12:01 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Yelp |
Shares of Yelp (YELP, $64.16) are having some trouble trying to making it back above the 200-day moving average at $67.39. A close above yesterday’s high of $66.96 would be a positive sign. For now, the stock is holding above Tuesday’s low of $58.81.
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| Thursday, April 17, 2014, 10:29 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| CLSA Upgrades Splunk |
Following the pullback from the recent all-time high of $106.15, CLSA upgrades Splunk (SPLK, $66.94) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $80 based on the company’s market opportunity in Big Data. For fiscal 2015 (Jan.), the consensus revenue estimate of $406.7 million indicates growth of 34.4%.
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| Thursday, April 17, 2014, 9:07 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Pacific Crest Upgrades Netflix |
Pacific Crest upgrades Netflix (NFLX, $331.41) to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $500 based on expectations for international growth to meaningfully accelerate over the next 18 months.
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| Thursday, April 17, 2014, 9:02 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Credit Suisse Ups Google Target |
Credit Suisse raises its Google (GOOGL, $553 pre market, -1.9%) price target to $735, saying the positive inflection in the CPC rate of decline in Q1 was impressive even though the overall quarter offered mixed results.
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| Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 12:37 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Aruba Networks |
Aruba Networks (ARUN, $20.94) shares are pushing to the upside from the 50-day moving average at $20.04. The RSI is rising from 59.4. There is near-term resistance at the March high of $22.10.
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| Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 11:03 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Goldman Positive on VMware |
Goldman Sachs says its Q1 checks for VMware (VMW, $101.70) have come back positive, indicating a potential beat on revenue and EPS. On the Q1 results, the firm looks for VMware to bump up 2014 guidance a bit. Goldman maintains its price target of $115.
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| Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 10:02 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| UBS Upgrades Nimble Storage |
UBS upgrades Nimble Storage (NMBL, $32.77) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $45 following the recent pullback, saying it expects the company’s pricing advantage to drive market share gains from legacy vendors.
For more on Nimble, see TechStock Radar--April 4 & 14, 2014.
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| Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 9:10 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Citi Ups Yelp to 'Buy' |
Citi upgrades Yelp (YELP, $63.06) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $76, saying the recent correction in the shares creates a buying opportunity. The firm believes Yelp is in the early stages of penetrating its TAM, and looks for a 32% CAGR over the next four years.
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| Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 3:01 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Did Splunk Put in a Short-Term Bottom? |
Shares of Splunk (SPLK, $64.20) have so far been able to hold Friday’s low of $55.55. After dipping into the red earlier in today’s session, hitting a low of $58.74, the stock is now up more than 6%, taking out yesterday’s high. There is short-term resistance at $65.30 and at the 200-day moving average of $66.18.
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| Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 12:07 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Citi Still Positive on ServiceNow |
Citi remains positive on ServiceNow (NOW, $48.65) after the sharp pullback from the recent high of $71.80. The firm looks for the company to continue to gain market share against main competitor BMC Software. Citi maintains its price target of $70.
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| Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 11:02 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Deutsche Bank Remains Positive on Infoblox |
Deutsche Bank says Infoblox (BLOX, $18.15) shares now offer a favorable risk/reward balance. The firm, which expects Infoblox’s fundamentals to gradually improve into the July quarter, maintains its price target of $30.
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| Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 10:20 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: NetSuite |
Shares of NetSuite (N, $78.87) remain weak and are now approaching the 52-week low of $77.20. The 50-day moving average is approaching the 200-day moving average, setting up a potential negative crossover.
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| Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 9:43 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Macquarie Upgrades Yahoo |
Macquarie upgrades Yahoo (YHOO, $33.69) to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $40 following the recent pullback from the high of $41.72. The firm recommends buying Yahoo ahead of the upcoming Alibaba IPO.
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| Monday, April 14, 2014, 4:12 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| OpCo Still Positive on Nimble Storage |
OpCo thinks Nimble Storage (NMBL, $30.38) shares, down 47% from the post-IPO high of $58 reached in February, do not adequately reflect the company’s strong growth prospects.
The firm believes Nimble’s hybrid storage strategy is working and expects the stock to rebound. The fiscal 2015 (Jan.) consensus revenue estimate of $203.8 million indicates growth of 62.1%.
Nimble went public in December at $21 a share and opened for trading at $31.10. For more on the Nimble growth story, see the March 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector (TSP #145).
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| Monday, April 14, 2014, 1:04 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Pacific Crest Upbeat on Yelp |
Pacific Crest maintains its Yelp (YELP, $62.85) ‘Outperform’ rating and price target of $115, saying checks show the company’s non-restaurant consumer usage and review base are expanding.
The firm says non-restaurant businesses are a main source of growth for Yelp, which continues to build out its presence beyond core restaurant reviews.
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| Monday, April 14, 2014, 12:01 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Piper Jaffray Remains Positive on TripAdvisor |
The recent pullback in shares of TripAdvisor (TRIP, $79.99) represents a buying opportunity, according to Piper Jaffray. The firm reiterates its ‘Overweight’ rating and price target of $125, saying the near-term fundamentals are improving.
From the March 10 high of $109.79, TripAdvisor shares last week dipped to $77.68.
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| Monday, April 14, 2014, 11:02 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Stephens Bullish on Palo Alto Networks |
Stephens upgrades Palo Alto Networks (PANW, $67.35) to ‘Overweight’ with a price target of $85 based on increased confidence that the company is well positioned to keep taking market share from incumbent network and endpoint security vendors.
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| Monday, April 14, 2014, 10:18 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| SunTrust Upgrades Yahoo to 'Buy' |
SunTrust upgrades Yahoo (YHOO, $33.17) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $40 because it sees the risk/reward balance as favorable now that the shares have pulled back from the January high of $41.72.
With the recent valuation reset, investors are getting “core Yahoo” for free (after adjusting for the ownership stakes in Yahoo Japan and Alibaba, along with cash on the balance sheet), according to the firm.
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| Monday, April 14, 2014, 9:29 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| CLSA Upgrades VMware |
CLSA upgrades VMware (VMW, $99.24) to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $115 based on the belief that the company is best positioned to capitalize on growth in the software-defined datacenter.
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| Monday, April 14, 2014, 9:02 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Raymond James & Deutsche Bank Bullish on Ultimate |
Following the recent sharp pullback in the shares, Raymond James upgrades Ultimate Software (ULTI, $122.97), a provider of cloud-based HCM solutions, to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $150, while Deutsche Bank starts coverage at ‘Buy’ with a price target of $160.
According to Deutsche Bank, Ultimate has established itself as a full-suite HCM vendor with a loyal customer base, low employee attrition and recognition as a top employer. The firm says Ultimate is well positioned to take advantage of customers moving from legacy payroll processors to modern software solutions that provide a full HCM suite.
For more on Ultimate’s growth profile, see the April 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector. Order the latest issue here for download to your Kindle or Kindle for iPad/iPhone reading app.
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| Friday, April 11, 2014, 3:23 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Bloomberg: IAC Ups Tinder Ownership Stake--UPDATE |
According to Bloomberg, IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI, $71.45) recently bought more of mobile dating app Tinder, paying a VC $500 million for another 10%. This latest purchase values Tinder at $5 billion, vs. IAC’s market cap of $5.8 billion.
For more on IAC and its strong presence in the online-dating business via its Match Group, see the April 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector. Order the latest issue here for download to your Kindle or Kindle for iPad/iPhone reading app.
UPDATE | 3:22 PM ET--IAC confirms a Tinder transaction, but denies it's at that speculated valuation. Instead, it looks like the deal was done at a Tinder valuation of $500 million.
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| Friday, April 11, 2014, 1:43 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Twitter Nears Post-IPO Low |
Shares of Twitter (TWTR, $40.19) continue to drift lower and are now approaching the post-IPO low of $38.80. So far, today’s intraday low is $39.69. The RSI is in oversold territory at 25.2.
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| Friday, April 11, 2014, 12:06 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Barclays Upgrades Varonis Systems |
Following a sharp pullback in the shares, Barclays upgrades Varonis Systems (VRNS, $27.37)-- a provider of solutions to manage, analyze and secure unstructured data--to ‘Overweight’ with a price target of $42 based on valuation relative to expected growth.
In February, Varonis went public at $22 a share and opened for trading at $39.
The stock on March 7 traded to a new post-IPO high of $56.80 and then on Wednesday hit a new post-IPO low of $25.55.
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| Friday, April 11, 2014, 11:10 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Nomura Lifts Yahoo Target to $43 |
Nomura Securities raises its Yahoo (YHOO, $33.06) price target to $43 from $40 based on its updated Alibaba valuation estimate of $136 billion. The firm estimates that Yahoo’s 24% stake in Alibaba is now worth roughly $22 a share. Nomura looks for Yahoo to monetize half of its stake in the upcoming IPO.
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| Friday, April 11, 2014, 10:09 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| BMO Capital Upgrades Demandware |
BMO Capital upgrades Demandware (DWRE, $52.68)--a provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions used by retailers and brands--to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $70 based on accelerating subscription growth, enterprise bookings momentum and confidence in execution abilities.
Demandware shares are down 36% from the all-time high of $82.23 reached on March 5.
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| Friday, April 11, 2014, 9:28 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Sterne Agee Upgrades Imperva |
Sterne Agee upgrades Imperva (IMPV, $28) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $35 following yesterday’s sharp pullback, saying it thinks the fundamentals remain solid despite the Q1 warning. The firm looks for investor sentiment on Imperva to improve because of the company’s compelling datacenter security products.
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| Thursday, April 10, 2014, 4:35 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Momentum Watch: CRM, N & NOW |
Salesforce (CRM, $54.55) shares today fell 4.2% and hit an intraday low of $54.23, but held Monday’s low of $53.07.
NetSuite (N, $83.39) shares today dropped 4.5% and hit a low of $82.63, but held Tuesday’s low of $81.22.
ServiceNow (NOW, $50.63) shares today declined 7.7% and hit a low of $49.84, but held Monday’s low of $49.21.
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| Thursday, April 10, 2014, 12:09 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Splunk Retreats Again |
Following a brief rebound to the 200-day moving average, Splunk (SPLK, $59.89) shares today are off nearly 8%, bringing Monday’s low of $58.29 into view again. After that, there is minor support at the October low of $54.93.
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| Thursday, April 10, 2014, 11:05 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| JMP Upgrades Palo Alto Networks |
JMP Securities upgrades Palo Alto Networks (PANW, $66.62) to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $80 based on strength in the company’s APT service and solid demand for next-gen firewalls.
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| Thursday, April 10, 2014, 10:10 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| B Riley Upgrades Akamai to 'Buy' |
B Riley upgrades Akamai Technologies (AKAM, $54.96) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $68 (up from $52) based on strong momentum in the core CDN business, upside potential in security and improving overall sales productivity.
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| Thursday, April 10, 2014, 9:28 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Pivotal & Deutsche Bank Bullish on Facebook |
Pivotal Research upgrades Facebook (FB, $62.41) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $72 (up from $66) based on valuation and sustainable growth.
Deutsche Bank reiterates its ‘Buy’ rating and calls Facebook a “must-own” stock based on checks that show continued strength in ad revenue. Over the longer term, the firm sees these positive catalysts: improved mobile ad pricing, better desktop ads, Instagram and WhatsApp. Deutsche Bank has a price target of $76.
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| Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 3:34 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Palo Alto Networks Rebounds |
Shares of Palo Alto Networks (PANW, $67.41) today are up more than 6%, continuing to rebound off of Monday’s low of $59.20. The stock is attempting to rally back to the 50-day moving average at $70.51.
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| Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 1:01 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Davidson Upgrades Gigamon |
DA Davidson upgrades Gigamon (GIMO, $17.50) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $22.50 after yesterday’s 33.9% drop, saying the sharp pullback creates a buying opportunity.
Gigamon now trades below the June 2013 IPO price of $19 and its
first-day opening price of $23.08.
Revised 2014 consensus estimates:
*Revenue: $174.3 million (was $183.4 million)
*EPS: 34 cents (was 49 cents)
Revised 2015 consensus estimates:
*Revenue: $221.1 million (was $233.9 million)
*EPS: 62 cents (was 74 cents)
For more on Gigamon, see TechStock Radar--April 7, 2014.
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| Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 12:13 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| TAG Bullish on Google |
Telsey Advisory Group (TAG) reiterates its Google (GOOG, $557.51) price target of $750, saying it believes the company will take share in the U.S. search market, with Android building share in the smartphone operating system category worldwide. The firm sees YouTube and Chrome as important emerging business units.
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| Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 11:01 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Topeka Upgrades FireEye to 'Buy' |
Topeka Capital upgrades FireEye (FEYE, $54.24) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $70 following the recent sharp pullback in the shares, saying it sees investors returning to high-growth names, particularly in markets as “top-of-mind” as security.
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| Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 10:01 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Jefferies Remains Bullish on VMware |
Jefferies reiterates its VMware (VMW, $107.14) ‘Buy’ rating and $124 price target after a recent channel survey indicated ELA renewals strength is offsetting near-term transactional weakness. The firm also looks for incremental contribution from VMware’s TAM-expanding opportunities.
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| Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 9:02 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| CRT Capital Upgrades Yelp |
CRT Capital upgrades Yelp (YELP, $67.25) to ‘Buy,’ saying the recent large drop in the stock had no real fundamental reasons behind it. The firm views Yelp as the leading online local ad player capable of taking share from key competitors (Google & Facebook) and delivering upside on the platform.
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| Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 3:22 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Workday |
Workday (WDAY, $81.29) shares are trying to retake the 200-day moving average at $81.77 a day after hitting a new low for the recent downside move of $75.38. The stock is well off its all-time high of $116.47 from February.
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| Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 12:31 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Tableau Online Builds Momentum |
Tableau Software (DATA, $70.90) today announces that it now has more than 1,000 customer accounts using its Tableau Online cloud-based offering just nine months after the debut. The hosted version of Tableau Server is the company’s fastest-growing product.
According to the company, customers are buying Tableau Online primarily for three reasons:
-”Go fast” scenarios--No need for hardware or dedicated IT staff
-Mobile scenarios--Secure analytics on the road
-Partner & customer analytics--Secure analytics collaboration outside the firewall
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| Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 11:44 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Recent IPO Paylocity Stumbles |
Shares of Paylocity (PCTY, $19.40) today hit a new post-IPO low of $19.35. The provider of cloud-based payroll & HCM solutions aimed at midsize organizations last month went public at $17 a share and opened for trading at $31, its post-IPO high.
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| Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 10:27 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Wedbush Upgrades FireEye to 'Outperform' |
Wedbush upgrades FireEye (FEYE, $51.17) to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $62 (down from $72 previously), saying checks in North America suggest demand remains robust and that there is widespread enthusiasm for the combined platform with Mandiant.
The firm thinks FireEye executes exceptionally well on what it believes is the most pressing metric today: reducing the time to detection and remediation from an advanced targeted attack from the current average of more than 240 days.
Wedbush acknowledges that the platform wars have begun and it thinks FireEye’s offering is compelling because the company offers an end-to-end capability to detect, block and remediate advanced attacks both at the network level and at the endpoint.
The firm says FireEye is well positioned to execute on its strategy to consolidate a TAM of $20 billion to $25 billion, which represents spending on legacy point solutions.
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| Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 9:32 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Gigamon Drops 25%; Goldman Defends |
Goldman Sachs thinks the 25% sell-off in Gigamon (GIMO, $19.62) shares following the negative Q1 pre-announce is overdone. The firm believes the one large deal blamed for the revenue shortfall is on indefinite postponement and not lost to a competitor. Goldman reduces its price target to $32 from $43, but keeps its ‘Buy’ rating.
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| Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 9:01 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| SunTrust Upgrades Yelp |
SunTrust upgrades Yelp (YELP, $66) to ‘Buy’ with a price target of $85 based on valuation following the recent pullback as well as the company’s strong underlying fundamentals in local and mobile.
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| Monday, April 7, 2014, 4:37 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Gigamon Issues Q1 Revenue Warning |
Shares of Gigamon (GIMO, $20 after hours, -23.6%), a provider of networking traffic intelligence solutions, are down more than 23% in after-hours trading following a negative Q1 pre-announcement.
The company puts the blame mainly on one expected transaction from an existing customer in EMEA that “did not materialize,” and also mentions that “certain other transactions that were expected to close late in the quarter slipped into the second quarter.”
Revenue for Q1 is now expected to come in at $31 million to $31.5 million, below previous guidance of $34 million to $35 million.
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| Monday, April 7, 2014, 3:17 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Splunk Down 45% From February High |
While shares of Splunk (SPLK, $60.30) today are still down more than 3%, they’ve recovered from the intraday low of $58.29. At that low, Splunk was off 45% from the recent all-time high of $106.15. The RSI is in oversold territory at 25.
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| Monday, April 7, 2014, 12:40 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Tableau Software Still Weak |
Shares of Tableau Software (DATA, $67.71) today are down more than 4% and are trading below the 200-day moving average of $70.70. The RSI stands at 28.3. Earlier, the stock hit a low of $66.31.
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| Monday, April 7, 2014, 10:15 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| BMO Capital Upgrades Rocket Fuel |
BMO Capital upgrades ad-tech specialist Rocket Fuel (FUEL, $41.45) to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $58, saying investors are overlooking the current market opportunity in programmatic execution and real-time bidding.
The firm says Rocket Fuel is just beginning to get traction in the mobile space (19% of revenue) and has a lot of opportunity in the online video segment, where real-time bidding is in its infancy.
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| Monday, April 7, 2014, 9:07 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| OpCo Upgrades Yelp |
OpCo upgrades Yelp (YELP, $65.76) to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $78, saying the recent sell-off in high-beta Internet names has created a buying opportunity in certain stocks. The firm believes Yelp shares now offer an attractive risk/reward profile. OpCo calls headline risk around businesses claiming false Yelp reviews mostly “noise.”
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| Friday, April 4, 2014, 5:57 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Weekend Reading: Tech-Stock Prospector on Kindle |
Read the March 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector on your
Kindle or Kindle for iPad/iPhone reading app.
Order the latest issue of TSP for Kindle here.
Here are some of the topics covered in the March 2014 issue:
*Favorite stocks of the momentum crowd
*3 winning IT security plays
*How Yelp helps
local businesses
*Big Data Watch: Splunk
well positioned for growth
*Salesforce ramps
up an impressive backlog
*Cloud-software leader Workday
builds out its portfolio
*Data Visualization: Why some smart investors like Tableau Software
*Qlik Technologies
gears up for a major new product launch
*Insights from the big Morgan Stanley tech conference
*The new 802.11ac WiFi standard gains momentum
*5 growth drivers at Aruba
Networks
*Infoblox plots
its rebound after the recent stumble
*Electronic Arts
benefiting from the new videogame console cycle
*Security Focus: Fortinet
ready to gain market share in the enterprise
*Is Riverbed
Technology in play after rejecting Elliott’s buyout offer?
*Nimble Storage
brings its hybrid platform to the enterprise
*Could Yahoo
shares get a boost from an Alibaba IPO filing?
*Palo Alto Networks
shares surge on positive IP litigation news
*Deal Report: IPOs from Varonis
Systems & A10 Networks
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| Friday, April 4, 2014, 3:08 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: NetSuite |
NetSuite (N, $84.05) shares, now off 30% from the recent all-time high of $120.77, are starting to come into the support area from June ranging from $81.99 to $83.71. The RSI is down to 26.4.
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| Friday, April 4, 2014, 12:03 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Splunk Breaks Support |
Shares of Splunk (SPLK, $63.83) have taken out the 200-day moving average at $65.62. The RSI is down to 27.6. There is support from November at $59.68 and $59.50.
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| Friday, April 4, 2014, 11:37 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Piper Jaffray Bullish on Nimble Storage |
Piper Jaffray starts coverage of Nimble Storage (NMBL, $33.56) at ‘Overweight’ with a price target of $50, saying the recent pullback in the stock (from a high of $58 set on February 28) has set up a good entry point for investors to own one of the few IT hardware names capable of 50%+ revenue growth for the foreseeable future.
Despite some investor concerns about Nimble’s market opportunity and valuation, Piper Jaffray believes the company’s proprietary architecture is technically superior to the current competitive offerings and has already caught the attention of large and midsize enterprises.
The firm looks for Nimble’s market share gains to continue, augmented by additional protocol support and geographic expansion.
For more on Nimble’s growth story, see the March 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector. Order the latest issue here for download to your Kindle or Kindle for iPad/iPhone reading app.
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| Friday, April 4, 2014, 10:18 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Yelp Tests Key Support Level |
Shares of Yelp (YELP, $70.29) this morning dipped to an early low of $66.37, just above the 200-day moving average at $65.97. The RSI is in oversold territory at 28.9.
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| Friday, April 4, 2014, 9:12 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Evercore Upgrades ServiceNow |
Evercore upgrades ServiceNow (NOW, $54.68) to ‘Overweight’ with a price target of $68, saying the recent pullback in the stock has set up a favorable risk/reward balance.
Checks suggest ServiceNow has upside potential in terms of the platform TAM, according to the firm. Evercore says ServiceNow has best revenue mix, competitive positioning and relative valuation against its peers.
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| Thursday, April 3, 2014, 3:15 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| ServiceNow Drops 10% |
ServiceNow (NOW, $54.55) shares today are off more than 10% on heavy volume. The stock took out its recent low of $55.14; the next downside level to watch is the 200-day moving average at $53.51.
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| Thursday, April 3, 2014, 11:21 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Yelp |
Yelp (YELP, $73.50) shares took out the recent low of $74.25. There’s minor support at $69.80 from January, and the 200-day moving average is on the rise from $65.80.
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| Thursday, April 3, 2014, 10:40 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Tableau |
Shares of Tableau Software (DATA, $74.96) look ready to test the March 27 low of $72.05. The 200-day moving average at $70.57 would be the next downside target if recent support is taken out.
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| Thursday, April 3, 2014, 9:01 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Citi Upgrades OpenTable to 'Buy' |
Citi upgrades OpenTable (OPEN, $77.03) to ‘Buy’ and raises its price target to $90 from $74, saying investors are under-appreciating the company’s growth in mobile and local marketing.
The firm says the stock is more attractive after the recent pullback (to a low of $75.07 on March 26 from the recent high of $85.87), especially because it believes Q1 results could top expectations.
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| Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 3:29 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Chart Watch: Imperva |
Shares of Imperva (IMPV, $53.92) today are showing notable weakness, off nearly 6% on heavy volume. The stock reversed after failing to retake the 50-day moving average at $58.83.
There is support from late January and early February in the $52 to $52.31 area. The 200-day moving average is trending up from $48.75.
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| Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 1:16 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Splunk Tries to Hold Support |
Splunk (SPLK, $71.89) shares today are weak, falling 4%, following yesterday’s 4.7% rebound. Traders are watching Monday’s low of $70.44 to see if it holds. The 200-day moving average continues to trend up from $65.41.
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| Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 11:40 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| AeroVironment Hits New 52-Week High |
Shares of AeroVironment (AVAV, $41.17), the leading provider of small drones used for reconnaissance, today reached a new 52-week high at $41.65.
So far this year, AeroVironment shares are up 41%.
We profiled the company back in the December 2011 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector (TSP #118) when the stock was trading around $31.80.
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| Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 10:14 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| CLSA Positive on Facebook |
CLSA believes Facebook (FB, $62.84) has beaten its peers in terms of its superior mobile targeting, saying it expects the company beginning in Q2 to benefit from increased demand and better pricing leverage.
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| Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 9:23 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| WhatsApp Sets a New Record |
WhatsApp, soon to be acquired by Facebook (FB, $62.62), yesterday handled a new daily record 64 billion messages, made up of ~20 billion sent (inbound) and 44 billion received (outbound).
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| Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 4:40 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Buyers Emerge for Momentum Names |
With the start of Q2, buyers stepped back into some of the momentum names.
Here’s a rundown of today’s big gainers in tech:
*Nimble Storage (NMBL) +6.8%
*Tableau Software (DATA) +6.7%
*Marketo (MKTO +6.1%
*TripAdvisor (TRIP) +5.4%
*Priceline (PCLN) +5.0%
*Splunk (SPLK) +4.7%
*Zillow (Z) +4.7%
*FireEye (FEYE) +4.5%
*ServiceNow (NOW) +4.3%
*Yelp (YELP) +4.2%
*Workday (WDAY) +4.2%
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| Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 12:55 PM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Barclays Upgrades Informatica |
Barclays upgrades Informatica (INFA, $39.56) to ‘Overweight’ with a price target of $45, saying the story is changing from one focused on recovery (the execution issues have been resolved) to one where the company is repositioning itself for growth in cloud integration, with much better messaging surrounding Big Data and Hadoop.
Informatica shares last week traded down to a low of $37.01 from the 52-week high of $43.79 reached on January 22.
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| Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 11:04 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| OpCo Upbeat on CommVault |
OpCo expects CommVault Systems (CVLT, $67.10), a provider of enterprise storage solutions, to report better-than-expected results for the March quarter based on solid channel demand. The firm also believes estimates for the June quarter look conservative.
OpCo says the risk/reward balance has improved following the recent pullback in the shares, which are down from a high of $90 in October.
For more on CommVault, see the February 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector (TSP #144).
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| Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 10:14 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Workday Rebounds |
With money once again flowing back into the momentum names, shares of Workday (WDAY, $95.41) this morning are up more than 4%. The stock is approaching its 50-day moving average at $96.85.
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| Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 9:22 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Read Tech-Stock Prospector on Kindle |
Read the March 2014 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector on your
Kindle or Kindle for iPad/iPhone reading app.
Order the latest issue of TSP for Kindle here.
Here are some of the topics covered in the March 2014 issue:
*Favorite stocks of the momentum crowd
*3 winning IT security plays
*How Yelp helps
local businesses
*Big Data Watch: Splunk
well positioned for growth
*Salesforce ramps
up an impressive backlog
*Cloud-software leader Workday
builds out its portfolio
*Data Visualization: Why some smart investors like Tableau Software
*Qlik Technologies
gears up for a major new product launch
*Insights from the big Morgan Stanley tech conference
*The new 802.11ac WiFi standard gains momentum
*5 growth drivers at Aruba
Networks
*Infoblox plots its
rebound after the recent stumble
*Electronic Arts
benefiting from the new videogame console cycle
*Security Focus: Fortinet
ready to gain market share in the enterprise
*Is Riverbed
Technology in play after rejecting Elliott’s buyout offer?
*Nimble Storage
brings its hybrid platform to the enterprise
*Could Yahoo
shares get a boost from an Alibaba IPO filing?
*Palo Alto Networks
shares surge on positive IP litigation news
*Deal Report: IPOs from Varonis
Systems & A10 Networks
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| Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 9:02 AM — by Rob DeFrancesco, TechStock Radar |
| Baird Bullish on Tableau |
Robert W. Baird upgrades Tableau Software (DATA, $76.08) to ‘Outperform’ with a price target of $95 based on the company’s long-term growth prospects in BI/data visualization. The stock is down from its recent high of $102.37.
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