The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Credit Suisse analyst
Michael Nemeroff has cut Open Text ($67.79 (Canadian)) to "neutral" from "outperform." The Globe's Luke Kawa, Tim Shufelt and Darcy Keith write in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Nemeroff shaved his share target to $60 (U.S.) from $65 (U.S.). The Street on average targets the shares at $61.86 (U.S.). Mr. Nemeroff believes Open Text's poor sales outlook will weigh on the stock's valuation.
He says: "We believe investors will not pay as high a multiple for [Open Text] shares if the company is unable to grow organic license revenue anywhere near the industry growth rate, which [Open Text] management has previously pegged at about 10 per cent. ... We recognize that the [foreign exchange] revenue headwind in fiscal second quarter was out of the company's control, but the sales execution issues [Open Text] faced in emerging market geographies in fiscal second quarter are likely to persist for at least another few quarters due to a weakening global macroeconomic outlook." He downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "outperform" and lowered his price target to $60 (U.S.) from $65 (U.S.). The average analyst price target is $61.86 (U.S.).
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