Goldman Sachs Starts Checkpoint Software (CHKP) at Buy, ' Own Check Point for visibility into near-term earnings, accelerating EPS growth'

Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges initiates coverage on Checkpoint Software (NASDAQ: CHKP) with a Buy rating and a price target of $148.00.

The analyst comments "We initiate on Check Point with a Buy rating and 16% upside to our 12-month price target of $148, based on 15x P/E. We believe the pace of Check Point’s share loss in the firewall market is moderating, due to the company’s increased investments in 2020 and 2021. This includes select M&A (6 deals in 2019-2022 vs. 3 deals in 2014-2018), a step up in R&D intensity (from 10% of sales in 2018 to 13% in 2022), and a step up in S&M resources (up 15% in 2022). Alongside better firewall market positioning and the introduction of the Infinity platform (for consolidated management across threat vectors), we believe Check Point is having success cross-selling cloud into its installed base, given many customers turn to their network security providers for next-gen SSE and cloud solutions. While macro is an overhang this year, we see a path to accelerating revenue growth and EPS growth into 2H23 and 2024, and Check Point’s stock tends to outperform into periods of EPS acceleration. In the context of ongoing volatility in Software and many companies under pressure to improve efficiencies, we think Check Point screens as attractive relative to a more select Software comp group of <10% growers and the broader S&P 500."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Checkpoint Software click here. For more ratings news on Checkpoint Software click here.

Shares of Checkpoint Software closed at $128.26 yesterday.

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