Citi raises Elastic NV target to $136 on growth optimism

EditorLina Guerrero
Published 11/19/2024, 01:40 PM
ESTC
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On Tuesday, Citi maintained a positive outlook on Elastic NV (NYSE: NYSE:ESTC), raising the company's price target from $130.00 to $136.00 while keeping a Buy rating on the stock. The firm's analyst anticipates a rebound for Elastic in its fiscal second quarter following initial go-to-market (GTM) challenges in the previous quarter.

The analyst's commentary suggests that management's intra-quarter updates have been largely positive, with successful deal closures and sustained momentum from the Elastic Stack Release (ESRE) product cycle. Discussions with partners also revealed robust demand for ESRE, although tempered by continued softness in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) segment.

Citi projects a slight outperformance relative to consensus revenue estimates for Elastic and expects stronger billings and bookings. However, they predict that Cloud revenue will align with expectations, considering the difficult comparatives from previous successes.

The optimism is further supported by the belief that improved execution and the application of GenAI and ESRE in new use cases will contribute to growth acceleration and a valuation increase, bringing Elastic NV closer to its industry peers in the long term.

In other recent news, Elastic NV experienced a series of upgrades and downgrades from various analysts. William Blair upgraded Elastic NV shares from Market Perform to Outperform due to significant opportunities in the AI search domain. The firm highlighted the potential of Elastic's vector/hybrid search solutions, which are expected to gain traction with the rise of AI applications. On the other hand, Needham reiterated a Hold rating on Elastic NV shares, citing a smaller potential for revenue growth outside of Elastic Cloud.

Barclays (LON:BARC) upgraded Elastic NV's shares from Equalweight to Overweight and set a new price target at $95, suggesting a buying opportunity. Guggenheim maintained its Buy rating on Elastic NV, forecasting benefits from widespread adoption starting in 2025.

In the boardroom, Elastic NV shareholders approved key resolutions including executive appointments and financial authorizations. The company's Dutch statutory annual accounts for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2024, were adopted, and the board received authorization to issue ordinary shares and grant rights to acquire ordinary shares.

On the product development front, Elastic integrated its Elasticsearch Open Inference API with Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s Gemini Developer API, enhancing its advanced search retrieval features. The company also partnered with Arrow Electronics (NYSE:ARW) to extend the reach of its security, observability, and search solutions across North America.

Furthermore, Elastic's Search AI Platform became available within the AWS Marketplace for the U.S. Intelligence Community. These are the highlights of recent developments in Elastic NV.

InvestingPro Insights

Elastic NV's financial metrics and market position offer additional context to Citi's optimistic outlook. According to InvestingPro data, Elastic has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion and has demonstrated solid revenue growth, with an 18.72% increase in the last twelve months as of Q1 2025. This growth aligns with Citi's expectations of potential outperformance in revenue estimates.

However, investors should note that Elastic is trading at a high P/E ratio of 143.75, which suggests the market has priced in significant growth expectations. This valuation metric is particularly relevant given Citi's projection of growth acceleration and potential valuation increase.

InvestingPro Tips highlight that Elastic holds more cash than debt on its balance sheet and has liquid assets exceeding short-term obligations. These factors could provide the company with financial flexibility to invest in growth initiatives, such as the ESRE product cycle mentioned in the analyst's commentary.

For readers interested in a deeper analysis, InvestingPro offers 5 additional tips for Elastic NV, providing a more comprehensive view of the company's financial health and market position.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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