Citi Upgrades VMware to Buy from Neutral, Raises PT to $120.00 from $87.00

In a report published Thursday, Citi analyst Walter Pritchard upgraded VMware, Inc.

to Buy from Neutral, raising its price target to $120.00 from $87.00. According to the report, the upgrade follows a stable, upward bias to estimates and unassuming valuation leave a good set-up, even though stock has participated in recent rally. “Our checks with resellers, recent survey work as well as deeper modeling suggest 2H13 growth trends remain sustainable into 1H14,” the report noted. “ELAs cycle appears more diffused than we estimated, while vSphere capacity / pricing is stable and vCloud management tools penetration is still low, but improving. Lastly, hiring plans in S&M look bullish. All of this supports accelerating double-digit growth in 2014.” VMW closed Wednesday at $100.92 with shares trading up at 2.63 percent.