Red Hat To Post More Than 20 Percent YoY Earnings Growth

Red Hat Inc RHT will report its first quarter (fiscal 2016) financial results on Thursday afternoon, after the market closes. And, according to Estimize, expectations point towards a 20.5 to 23.5 percent year-over-year earnings growth rate.

In the first quarter last year, the company registered earnings of $0.34 per share on revenue of $423.8 million. For the current quarter, the company guided earnings of $0.41 per share on revenue of $471.5 million.

The Street is modeling consensus earnings in line with guidance, on slightly higher revenue of $472.24 million. The crowd, however, is more bullish, and anticipates earnings of $0.42 per share on revenue of $475.45 million.

It is also interesting to observe how sentiment has changed over time. As it can be appreciated in the chart above, the Street’s consensus experienced an increase in April, before settling at the $0.41 level. For their part, the crowd’s estimates went through some ups and downs, but ultimately saw an upward revision on Tuesday.

Analyst Ratings

A bunch of analysts have weighed in on Red Hat this year. Most recently, Raymond James analysts reiterated an Outperform rating and an $84 price target. Barclays rates the stock an Overweight, with the same price target as its peer Raymond James.

Other firms that recently graded the stock are:

• Cantor Fitzgerald, Buy rating, $85 price target
• Citigroup, Neutral rating, $73 price target
• Credit Suisse, Outperform rating, $78 price target
• Deutsche Bank, Hold rating,$70 price target
• Jefferies, Hold rating, $66 price target
• JMP Securities, Market Outperform rating, $79 price target
• JP Morgan, Overweight rating, $80 price target