Shares of FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE) are on fire today, falling nearly 13%, after the cybersecurity software maker reported mixed second-quarter results, missing revenue and billings expectations, but exceeding operating margin and EPS guidance.
Adding insult to injury, Deutsche Bank analyst Karl Keirstead reduced his price target for the stock from $20 to $15, while maintaining a Hold rating.
Keirstead noted, “FEYE’s plan is to 1. launch cheaper software-only form factors that will appeal to the midmarket, 2. hire new Sales and Europe heads and 3. scale “new” solutions like FaaS and end – point. In our view these initiatives will take 6-12 months to bear fruit, we’re not entirely comfortable that the 4Q16 guidance has been de-risked and we have no visibility into the likely success of the virtual NX solution. FEYE is accelerating its cost take-out plan but the expected non-GAAP operating loss of $166m in 2016 is still material and the 2H16 OCF guidance was cut.”
“We remain cautious on the stock and for 2017 we’re lowering our estimate for revs to $809m (+13%) from $972m and billings to $844m (+1%) from $1.23b. […] The risk profile still looks too high to us and we remain on the sidelines. Given the challenges we’re lowering our PT,” the analyst concluded.
According to TipRanks.com, which measures analysts’ and bloggers’ success rate based on how their calls perform, analyst Karl Keirstead has a yearly average return of 8.4% and a 62% success rate. Keirstead is ranked #238 out of 4090 analysts.
Out of the 29 analysts polled by TipRanks, 18 rate FireEye Inc stock a Hold, while 11 rate the stock a Buy. With a return potential of 71.3%, the stock’s consensus target price stands at $24.95.
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