Citigroup Ups Packeteer to Buy from Hold

Cites the company's strong fourth quarter report.

Citigroup upgraded Packeteer (PKTR ) to buy from hold, citing the company's strong fourth quarter report.

Analyst B. Alexander Henderson says this indicates the the company has fixed execution problems across all regions. Henderson notes $32 million fourth quarter sales beat a $28 million estimate and 26 cents GAAP earnings per share (EPS) (21 cents non-GAAP) beat a 13 cents estimate. The analyst says the company sees roughly flat sales quarter over quarter in the first quarter, and growth in all other quarters of 2006; this implies revenue well above any existing estimates. Along with the strong fourth quarter results, Henderson notes that the management also made a convincing case for its technology leadership and added a strong new Engineering VP. The analyst raises a 14 cents first quarter EPS estimate to 15 cents, a 59 cents 2006 estimate to 65 cents, and a 64 cents 2007 estimate to 71 cents. The analyst also ups a $9.25 target to $16.

All of the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect the research analyst's personal views regarding any and all of the subject securities or issuers. No part of analyst compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this research report.
Standard & Poor's Regulatory Disclosure

Any advice, analysis, or recommendations contained in articles labeled "Insight from Standard & Poor's" reflect the views of Standard & Poor's, which operates separately from and independently of BusinessWeek Online. It is possible that BWOL may from time to time publish information that is not consistent with advice, analysis, or recommendations that are published by Standard & Poor's. Standard & Poor's and BusinessWeek Online are each units of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds. XML

Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed.

Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video.

To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here.

Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page