Wall Street Zen Upgrades NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded NetApp to “strong-buy,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “hold,” with six buy ratings and ten hold ratings and an average price target of $192.07.
• NetApp reported a strong quarter, with EPS of $2.58 beating estimates by $0.46, revenue reaching approximately $2.02 billion, and year-over-year revenue growth of 29.9%. Management also raised its fiscal 2027 EPS outlook to $9.73–$10.03.
• Shares opened at $185.59, near their 52-week high of $209.06, while insiders sold about $8.7 million of stock over the past 90 days; institutional investors own 92.17% of the company.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on NTAP. Bank of America boosted their price objective on NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $192.07.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $185.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.86. NetApp has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $209.06. The firm has a market cap of $36.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%.The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. Analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth O'Callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 55,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,719,520 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,540 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 833 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MRWM Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. MRWM Advisors LLC now owns 6,794 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported record fiscal first-quarter results, with revenue rising 29.9% year over year to $2.03 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.58 per share, well above consensus estimates of $1.84 billion and approximately $2.13 per share. NTAP Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Hybrid, Public Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS outlook to $9.73-$10.03 and forecast revenue of $7.975-$8.225 billion. Strong hybrid-cloud and public-cloud growth, all-flash storage demand and AI-related infrastructure upgrades are supporting the improved outlook. NetApp FY2027 Forecast and Raised EPS Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts largely raised their targets following the results. Goldman Sachs maintained a $210 target and TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating with a $200 target, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $191. NetApp also expanded its AWS relationship by enabling storage migrations to Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP through AWS Transform.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Citi downgraded the stock to Neutral with a $190 target, while Wedbush kept a Neutral rating despite raising its target to $170. The target changes suggest limited upside at current levels for some analysts.
• Negative Sentiment: The initial post-earnings selloff reflected a decline in free cash flow and management’s warning that second-quarter gross margin will decrease. Investors appear concerned that strong reported earnings and AI demand may not immediately translate into comparable cash generation.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc NASDAQ: NTAP is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp's offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company's product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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