UPDATE: Cowen and Company Reiterates Market Perform, Lowers PT on Red Hat Following Weak F2Q Billings Results

In a report published Tuesday, Cowen and Company analyst Gregg Moskowitz reiterated a Market Perform rating on

, but lowered the price target from $53.00 to $50.00. In the report, Cowen and Company noted, “For the 2nd time in the past three quarters, RHT attributed disappointing billings growth in part to an increase in off balance sheet backlog, although it cited weak IT spending in Europe as well. This was also the 3rd time in the past 5 quarters where RHT missed Street billings ests. The off balance sheet commentary (below) may assuage some investors, although we believe many are losing patience. We do expect RHT will grow double-digits going forward but remain uncertain whether it can deliver enough billings/CFFO upside over the NTM to drive material stock outperformance.” Red Hat closed on Monday at $52.93.