Bank of America Overweight On Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP)

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has a Neutral rating and a $55 price target on shares of Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ: CHKP).In a note to clients, Bank of America writes, "CHKP delivered an overall strong quarter with revs of $281.3m (+15%) ahead of our/cons $277m estimate and non-GAAP EPS of $0.64 (+17% y/y) vs. our and cons ests of $0.61/$0.62. Product sales maintained solid momentum with revs of $105.3m (+16% y/y, vs. our est $103mn), helped by high-end appliances (Power-1 series). Op Margins at 57% (vs. our est for 55.6%) continue to reflect good opex controls in spite of a higher mix of hardware appliances. Deferred revs at $460mn vs. our est of $470m and a high tax payout ($22m vs. $9m y/y) yielded CFO of $211.6m (-3% y/y) – weaker than our est of $223.5m. Americas revs showed strong growth (+17% y/y). While early to gauge LT ramifications of the Japan disaster, 1Q results from the region were strong."Shares of CHKP gained $1.58 yesterday to close at $53.56, a gain of over 3%.