Analysts Raise Estimates on NetApp Inc. (NTAP) Following Strong Q4 Earnings, Future Looks Promising

Shares of NetApp Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) are up 8.2%, or $4.25, to $55.98 following the release of strong quarterly results and full year guidance Wednesday afternoon.

While investors are clearly cheering the results Thursday, let's take a look at what analysts are saying:

• Wells Fargo - "Given the share weakness post the Q3 results and the Engenio acquisition; we think the print and guide should be well received. We remain bullish on NetApp's position in the storage market and are confident in management's execution with Engenio."
  
  The firm raised its FY12 EPS and revenue estimates from $2.24 and $5.7 billion to $2.50 and $6.8 billion, respectively. Wells Fargo also lifted its FY13 sales estimate from $6.5 bilion to $7.8 billion and its EPS estimate from $2.57 to $2.80.
  
  Maintains an Outperform rating.
  
  
• Janney Capital - "We expect NetApp to gain market share but anticipate more competition for that share. EMC's (NYSE: EMC) recent introduction of VNX unified storage systems with expanded efficiency features makes it a tougher competitor in mid range. EMC has been successful in the high end but had challenges in the midrange. At the very least, EMC could impinge on NTAP's unbridled share gains over the past few years. We expect both NetApp and EMC to gain share against IBM (NYSE: IBM), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and others. Pricing and competition for deals will remain aggressive."
  
  Raised its FY12 EPS estimate from $2.38 to $2.50 and its revenue estimate from $6.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The firm also raised its FY13 EPS and sales estimates from $2.74 and $7.6 billion to $2.85 and $7.74 billion, respectively.
  
  Maintains Neutral and boosted its price target from $58 to $59.
  
  
• Goldman Sachs - "We see NetApp’s strong revenue growth as supportive of our view that the networked storage market remains one of the relative strong spots in enterprise hardware, and that best-of breed vendors continue to be favored over integrated providers such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell (NYSE: DELL)."
  
  Raised its FY12 EPS and revenue estimates from $2.23 and $5.77 billion to $2.43 and $6.67 billion, respectively, and FY13 EPS estimate from $2.49 to $2.76.
  
  Maintains Neutral rating with a $55 price target.
  
  
• Collins Stewart - "From our PDR checks at Storage Networking World and conversations with CIOs, we believe the Engenio acquisition will work out well for NetApp. With a good print here in F4Q11, on a compare of 33% growth, we believe the trajectory of the shares will get back on track. With 15%-20% organic top and bottom line growth, but with a PE of only about 20x, we find the shares very attractive at these levels."
  
  To go in-line with the market trend and NetApp's new guidance, the firm is raised its FY12 EPS estimate from $2.26 to $2.43. Sales estimate for the year moved from $5.86 billion to $6.6 billion. FY13 sales estimate raised to $$7.45 billion.
  
  Maintains Buy rating and $68 price target.
  
  
• Deutsche Bank - "Looking forward, we expect NetApp share gains to continue (product refresh, channel expansion etc) as customers migrate towards Unified architectures for next generation datacenter build-outs."
  
  Raised its FY12 EPS and revenue estimates from $2.30 and $5.8 billion to $2.50 and $6.7 billion, respectively. The firm introduced FY13 estimates at $2.85 for EPS and at $7.6 billion for sales.
  
  Maintains Buy rating and $70 price target.

Visit our Analyst Ratings page to track all the market-moving analyst action on shares of NetApp.

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