Nomura Raises Price Target On Palo Alto Networks Ahead Of Earnings

Nomura raised its price target on Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW Tuesday from $130 to $145 and maintained a Buy rating.

Analyst Frederick Grieb indicated that checks showed positive results for the company’s products which gave support to the expectation that Palo Alto will beat Q2 estimates.

“During the quarter, we heard commentary about several resellers that were running ahead of plan with Palo Alto sales and the average reseller we spoke to was about 3 percent ahead of plan at the end of December,” according to Grieb.

Based on the checks, the analyst expected that Q2 revenue would come in at $208 million, ahead of the consensus estimate of $204 million.

Grieb also expected that guidance would be strong and on the high end of $200-204 million.

The firm set FY 2015 estimated EPS at $0.80 and FY 2016 estimated EPS at $1.75.

The company will report fiscal Q2 earnings on March 2.

Palo Alto Networks closed Tuesday at $138.61, up 0.3 percent.