UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Reiterates Underweight Rating, Lowers PT on NetApp as Delayed Deals Add to Currency Headwind

In a report published Thursday, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy L. Huberty reiterated an Underweight rating on

, but lowered the price target from $35.00 to $34.00. In the report, Morgan Stanley noted, "On the back of the F3Q revenue miss and weak F4Q guidance, NetApp plans to refocus its investments and expand its go-to-market initiatives. The company dismissed competitive concerns as sales force productivity remains high with execution issues mostly the result of deal pushouts. However, our checks with resellers suggest the product differentiation at NetApp is diminishing due to emerging flash competitors and threat from data migrating to cloud. NetApp also highlighted elongated sales cycles with customers resetting and pausing budgets in the month of January on the back of energy prices and currency concerns. To address heightened budget scrutiny, NetApp plans to increase the size of its quota carrying sales force in order in order to broaden the deal pipeline." NetApp closed on Wednesday at $39.79.