All The Sell-Side Reaction You Need Following Splunk's Third-Quarter Beat

Splunk Inc (NASDAQ: SPLK) delivered a much needed earnings beat on Tuesday that sent shares soaring as much as 10 percent shortly following the release. While Splunk has still held up post-earnings, sell-side sentiment has poured in.

Barclays: Solid Q3, But Cloud Impact Visible

“Revenue growth of 40 percent and billings growth of 37 percent remain healthy, but investors will likely focus on short-term deferred revenue which came in slightly below consensus estimates; it seems tough comps are a main factor here,” said Barclays analysts.

Barclays maintains its Equal-Weight rating with a $56 price target.

Oppenheimer: Bullish And Agressive

Analysts at Oppenheimer are overwhelmingly bullish on Splunk’s future outlook. Oppenheimer raised FY 2017 guidance following the third-quarter results and has set an aggressive $80 price target on the company. Analysts cited strong revenue growth, cloud revenue tripling, improved margins and no debts as particularly encouraging signs moving forward.

“SPLK continues to generate strong momentum. We believe current profitability reflects a near-term focus on revenue growth, and ultimately expect profitability to improve,” said Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer maintains its Outperform rating on Splunk.

Deutsche Bank: License Revs Beat Guide

“The key take was that despite the P&L distortion from the mix shift from on-premise to hosted/Cloud deployments, SPLK still posted a license revs performance that handily beat the implied guide,” said Deutsche Bank analysts.

The German bank reiterated its Buy rating and $70 price target following earnings.

MKM: Cloud Transition Risks Leave Firm Cautious

MKM partners took a more conservative approach to the company following earnings, citing cloud transition risk could limit the Splunk’s growth.

MKM raised its price target from $55 to $60 and maintains a Neutral rating.

JPMorgan: Key Highlights

• Larger deals driving outperformance.
• Cloud triples for second consecutive quarter, although manifestations of mix shift are hard to identify.
• Customer growth dipped below 20 percent for the first time to 19.7 percent year-over-year.
• Out-year guidance uncharacteristically not provided.

JPMorgan maintains a Neutral rating with a $60 price target.

William Blair: 'Very Solid Results'

According to William Blair analysts, “Splunk delivered what we view as very solid results highlighted by all metrics registering well ahead of expectations.”

The company maintains an Outperform rating.

BMO: No Changes

BMO left the quarter unchanged, maintaining its Outperform rating and $66 price target.

At last check, shares of Splunk were up 2.34 percent at $58.72.