UPDATE: Jefferies Initiates Coverage on Splunk in Pole Position with a Premium

In a report published Wednesday, Jefferies analyst Aaron Schwartz initiated coverage on

with a Hold rating and $57.00 price target. In the report, Jefferies noted, “Splunk has a first mover advantage in a market supported by strong secular growth which will provide time to broadly establish a platform strategy, and form the basis for long-term above-market growth. Countering these positive attributes is a sales model that may face constraint, and a license structure change that brings expectation and timing risk. We believe the risk/reward is mixed due to the small margin of error and as such, we initiate with a Hold.” Splunk closed on Tuesday at $61.03.