UPDATE: Wunderlich Securities Upgrades Vocus to Buy on Growth Acceleration

Wunderlich Securities upgraded Vocus

from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $15.00 to $21.00. Wunderlich Securities analyst Richard K. Baldry noted, "We originally downgraded VOCS on 2/29/12 after an acquisition severely diluted EPS and brought VOCS into the competitive e-mail marketing space. Having integrated the acquisition well and cut costs more than expected to restore much of its earnings power, we see its shift to offer a suite of e-marketing tools as a strong strategy. With hiring growing its sales headcount over 80% in 4Q12 versus 4Q11 (to 489 from 270), we expect growth to begin to re-accelerate as a clear catalyst to move shares higher given a severely discounted valuation compared to its SaaS peers." Vocus closed at $13.03 on Friday.