UPDATE: Deutsche Bank Upgrades Oracle Following an Underperforming Year

In a report published Wednesday, Deutsche Bank analyst Nandan Amladi transferred coverage to Karl Keirstead who upgraded the rating for Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $33.00 to $45.00.

Keirstead noted that shares of Oracle were up 13% in 2013, underperforming the broad software sector. The analyst added that investor concerns over secular risks should note that Deutsche Bank's valuation already included these risks. Keirstead remarked that he views Oracle's medium-term growth rate as a “manageable problem”. He reported that the company is aggressively pivoting to the cloud to protect the company's installed base and stemming the losses.

Deutsche Bank commented, “In a nutshell, Oracle is only investable if its core database software business is tracking well, which it is, growing at a high single-digit clip while the core businesses of other mega-cap technology firms are struggling with zero growth given the twin forces of commoditization and price deflation. In our view, the new open source database alternatives are not body-checking Oracle just yet, Exadata sales are solid and a new 12c database launch adds zest to the fiscal 2015 outlook.”

Shares of Oracle Corporation closed at $37.98 on Wednesday.