They detail their findings in a new research report, and for the most part, spending in the space is expected, on an overall basis, to be very solid. They also point out that some of the top stocks are making solid inroads with the re-sellers, and pushing their way to the front of the pack.
Here are the top storage stocks from Piper Jaffray.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) shares rallied this summer on news that Paul Singer’s activist hedge fund Elliott Management has accumulated a stake worth over $1 billion in the storage giant. Many think the activist play is an attempt to spin-off and monetize the huge position in cloud software giant VMWare in an attempt to provide additional value for shareholders. While the stake is significant, it certainly at this point can’t dictate terms to EMC.
The Piper Jaffray results show that the company is still the undisputed leader in the sector and was the top performer in the third quarter. EMC shareholders are paid 1.70% dividend. Piper Jaffray rates the stock Overweight and has a $33 price target. The Thomson/First call consensus price target is $32.44. EMC closed Thursday at $26.89.
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Nimble Storage Inc. (NYSE: NMBL) made its IPO debut back in December of last year and at one point was crushed back below the original offering price after doubling. Nimble has developed a hybrid storage architecture engineered from the ground up to seamlessly integrate flash and high-capacity drives. Yet another huge leap in storage technology that many people who need more capacity than older enterprise systems have been embracing. The Piper Jaffray team reports that results for Nimble Storage were again very solid for the quarter with 24% of resellers above plan. Nimble’s net percentage of resellers above plan (+6%) was second best among all the publicly traded storage vendors in the survey, second only to EMC.
The analysts expect the company to beat earnings and raise estimates. Nimble is rated Overweight, and Piper Jaffray has a very big $47 price target. The consensus target is $37.30. Shares closed Thursday at $25.42. A trade to the UBS target would be more than an 85% gain for investors.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a top tech storage stock that has been blistered during the recent stock sell-off, and at one point this year was down 30% from January highs. The company is a provider of storage systems and data management solutions that form the foundation for efficient and flexible IT infrastructures. The company is one of the smaller players in the electronic storage industry, which could hurt it in competition with industry giants.
The Piper Jaffray team cited the company’s solid, though not spectacular third-quarter results, and pointed out they were very consistent with expectations and improved sequentially across all product lines. NetApp investors are paid a 1.8% dividend. Piper Jaffray has an Overweight rating and a $46 price target. The consensus price objective is $43.09. Shares closed at $38.40.
Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) announced last Friday that it will go the split-up route and form two separate companies. The company has opted to resize itself by splitting its security and information management and storage services into two distinct departments and two separate publicly traded companies. Symantec is also looking to make more strategic investments around the security and information management segments in the coming year.
Symantec shareholders are paid a 2.7% dividend. Piper Jaffray rates the stock at Neutral and has a $28 price target, while the consensus figure is lower at $25.02. Shares closed Thursday at $22.03.
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While not the most exciting area of technology, storage is one of the most needed. With data and content use and demand soaring higher daily, anything of value has to go somewhere. These top stocks are there to accommodate that need.
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