UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Raises PT to $18 on Ixia; Resilience to Macro Headwinds

Stifel Nicolaus reiterated its Buy rating on Ixia

and raised its price target from $17 to $18. Stifel Nicolaus commented, "Although not immune to macro challenges, XXIA appears to be admirably weathering broader macro trends through new product momentum (LTE, WiFi, and 40/100G), exposure to high growth markets (data centers, cloud computing, SDN, and security), and a strengthened portfolio providing end-to-end solutions. … Taking the midpoint of 4Q revenue guidance, Ixia is targeting core revenue of about $93 million, or an increase of roughly 5% q/q, with the positive outlook buoyed by a book-to-bill of greater than 1.0x exiting the quarter." Ixia closed at $15.40 on Wednesday.