UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Initiates Buy, $87 PT on The Ultimate Software Group; Numerous Growth Drivers

Stifel Nicolaus initiates The Ultimate software Group

with a Buy rating and a price target of $87. Stifel Nicolaus says, "We believe Ultimate has numerous growth drivers (i.e., increased sales productivity, higher attach rates of ancillary products, monetization of large market, etc.), which should position it well to deliver over 25% recurring revenue growth for the next several years. Additionally, we think there is plenty of leverage in the model and expect the company to deliver a few hundred basis points of margin expansion over this same time period. Given these dynamics, coupled with our belief that the human capital management (HCM) space will stay robust, we believe there is a solid chance of upside to Street estimates and expect the shares to outperform in coming quarters." ULTI closed at $77.77 on Thursday.