Tableau Software Earnings Roundup: What Seven Major Wall Street Research Firms Think

Shares of Tableau Software Inc DATA are on the rise. They gained more than 14 percent on Friday, after the company reported estimate-beating earnings and revenue on Thursday, after the market close.

Following the announcement of the financial results, several major Wall Street research firms have weighed in. Below, brief comments from each one:

Jefferies – Hold rating, $105 price target

Tableau reported yet another robust quarter, “driven by strong license and total revenue growth, much of which fell to the bottom line. The company continues to benefit from its strong marketing efforts to monetize what we view as a strong secular demand trend in the self-service data visualization market,” the analysts say.

In addition, Tableau is profiting from increasing penetration in international markets and the signing of larger deals.

Pacific Crest – Overweight rating, $122 price target

The bullish stance on Tableau is based primarily on “Strong underlying fundamentals, with upside driven by ~75% revenue growth,” a recent research note assures. Not only is the company “scratching the surface of a large TAM with less than 3% penetration, but a major new product release (Tableau 9) in April could fuel additional upside this year.”

RBC Capital Markets - Outperform rating, $120 price target

Tableau started the year with considerable upside to all metrics (in the same way it ended 2014). The analysts highlight that “Guidance was raised to 48% revenue growth at the mid-point, which will likely proves conservative as the company continues to post significant upside despite anniversarying difficult comps.”

JMP Securities - Outperform rating, $115 price target

The rating and price target respond to yet another upside quarter reported, with revenue of $130 million, up 75 percent in relation to the same quarter last year, and above consensus of $115 million. Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.08, compared to consensus of ($0.03).

The analysts explain that they continue to like Tableau “because it has an ambitious vision to democratize business analytics, one of the largest spending areas in enterprise IT, a rapidly expanding customer base, and one of the fastest growth rates” in their coverage universe.

JPMorgan - Overweight rating, $115 price target

Following earnings, JPMorgan reaffirms Tableau as its top pick in the Big Data & Analytics industry. In the first quarter the company benefitted from “strength in large deals, hired at a faster pace –notably in S&M – than what guidance suggested and spoke broadly of the initial success of Tableau 9.” The analysts expected “increased seasonality as well, which manifested itself in a 9% sequential revenue decline vs. an average 6% sequential revenue decline during Q1 in the last three years.”

Citi – Neutral rating, $110 price target

As expected, first quarter results beat estimates. The analysts highlight a few points:

- The company delivered another top-line beat

- There was and earnings and operating margins beat, too. However, opex was higher than expected

- Although guidance was boosted slightly, it still seems conservative, as usual

- The analysts “Continue to be impressed by momentum but still view stock as high risk”

Deutsche Bank – Buy rating, $125 price target

Tableau reported 75 percent growth in revenue, “a full 13% above the high end of guidance (in-line with beats of 11%-18% throughout 2014) and easily exceeding expectations. Highlights include 74% license growth despite the strong 4Q14 print, record FCF margins of 21% and a big raise to 2015 revs guidance (to $610m at the high end, up 48%, from prior guidance of $580m),” a research note says.