Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) is scheduled to report its fiscal second-quarter financial results after the markets close on Monday. Consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $0.44 in earnings per share (EPS) on $494.65 million in revenue. In the same period of the previous year, the software maker posted EPS of $0.41 and $445.90 million in revenue.

In the previous quarter, Red Hat reported that subscription revenue jumped 23% (in constant dollars) year over year to $425 million, to account for about 88% of total revenues. That was also a constant-dollar increase of 22% year over year. The reaction from investors was marginally positive.

The company had a short interest reading of 4.6 million shares, with 3.2 days to cover, as of the most recent settlement date. The previous reading was 3.9 million with 4.4 days to cover.

During this quarter a few analysts weighed in on Red Hat:

• BTIG Research initiated coverage with a Buy rating and an $85 price.
• JPMorgan reiterated an Overweight rating and raised its price target to $85 from $82.
• Deutsche Bank reiterated a Hold rating and raised its price target to $75 from $70.
• Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a Buy rating.

So far in 2015, shares of Red Hat outperformed the market. The stock is up 2.8% year to date, while for the past 52 weeks shares are up 17%.

Shares of Red Hat were up 2.2% at $72.63 Monday morning. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $83.30 and a 52-week trading range of $52.53 to $81.49.

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