Morgan Stanley upgrades Adobe (ADBE, $288.85) to ‘Overweight’ based on positive field work and upbeat analysis of segment contribution margins that led to improved confidence in the company’s ability to sustain EPS growth of greater than 20%, even assuming deceleration in core Digital Media growth.

The firm believes the Digital Experience unit could accelerate organically and sustain revenue growth above current Wall Street estimates. Morgan Stanley raises its ADBE price target to $340 from $282.

For more on Adobe, see the April 2019 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector (TSP #206).

Shares of ServiceNow (NOW, $260.50) today are up more than 7% following last night’s strong Q1 report, with revenue rising 34% to $789 million, topping the consensus estimate of $766.2 million.

ServiceNow, a provider of cloud-based enterprise software for IT service/operations management and a number of specialized digital workflows, has been a core holding in the Tech-Stock Prospector Vulture Portfolio since August 2014, added when the stock was trading at $55.

Today, ServiceNow shares hit a new all-time high of $269.27.

Morgan Stanley upgrades Qualcomm (QCOM, $86.04) to ‘Overweight’ with a price target of $95 (up from $55), saying the market has not yet fully appreciated the impact of the chipmaker’s settlement with Apple (AAPL), which increases earnings substantially and expands the freedom with which the company can pursue new opportunities.

While Morgan Stanley takes a more conservative view than most related to the pace of the 5G ramp, it believes Qualcomm is a “key enabler” of the new technology.

Stifel raises its Microsoft (MSFT, $123.51) price target to $130 from $120 based on a constructive IT spending environment, expectations for commercial Office 365 gains (both pricing and units), strength in Azure and progress in gaming.

Wedbush is forecasting Q1 revenue upside for Facebook (FB, $179.69) from a combination of ad product momentum and engagement growth. 

The firm maintains its price target of $200, saying it expects Facebook to continue its rapid growth overseas and increase monetization of under-penetrated Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.

Shares of enterprise software vendor Atlassian (TEAM, $101.95) this morning are down more than 8% after the company last night reported FQ3 (March) results, which beat expectations on the top line, but fell short on the billings metric.

Revenue rose 38% to $309.3 million, topping the consensus estimate of $304.6 million. Deferred revenue of $433 million was up 4% sequentially versus a 14% sequential gain in the previous quarter.

Cowen remains bullish, saying pull-forward activity in FQ2 ahead of a mid-October price increase hurt deferred revenue growth in FQ3. While Atlassian said there will be some impact to FQ4 as well, the firm sees the effect fading with each subsequent quarter. Cowen maintains its TEAM price target of $125.

Morgan Stanley isn’t so positive, pointing to the sharp deceleration in FQ3 billings growth. The firm believes it’s likely to force investors to reassess the durable growth rate at Atlassian. Morgan Stanley’s TEAM price target is $99.

KeyBanc raises its Paycom (PAYC, $188.24) price target to $210 from $182 based on positive small/medium business hiring trends. The firm also sees new software investments in employee self-service and mobile app upgrades as key drivers that can help sustain share-gain momentum for the company this year.

In addition, KeyBanc starts coverage of Paylocity (PCTY, $92.22) at ‘Overweight’ with a price target of $104, saying the company is a core small-cap holding in the HR space that will continue to benefit from the secular shift to cloud-based applications.

OpCo raises its Check Point Software (CHKP, $131.69) price target to $145 from $130, saying its checks with 21 resellers across the U.S. and Europe indicate consistent execution and stabilizing trends. 

The firm calls out steady regional performance driven by ongoing traction for Check Point’s mid/high-end security appliances. The cloud continues to garner greater mindshare via the CloudGuard/Dome9 offerings, according to OpCo.

The company reports Q1 results on April 18.

Check Point shares today hit a new all-time high at $132.30.

BofA/Merrill starts Mimecast (MIME, $49.41) at ‘Buy’ with a price target of $60, calling it a leader in email security. The firm says Mimecast also has a solid presence in adjacent markets such as enterprise archiving and email continuity.

Mimecast’s integrated cloud platform is attractive to the targeted mid-market sector, says BofA/Merrill.

Stephens is upbeat on the new Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order game from Electronic Arts (EA, $100.93) ahead of the launch on April 13. 

The firm says Respawn is finally making the type of single-player, story-driven Star Wars game that fans have been waiting for, and believes the title has the potential to sell double-digit million units if the company executes without any missteps. 

Stephens maintains its EA price target of $120.

Goldman Sachs upgrades Symantec (SYMC, $24.17) to ‘Buy’ and raises its price target to $28 from $23, saying FY’20 “should show improvement on essentially every key metric” at the company.

Goldman calls Symantec’s valuation “undemanding” and sees a path to sustained growth in current billings amid easier year-over-year comps.