Stifel analyst Aaron Rakers reiterated an Buy rating and lifted his price target on CommVault Systems (NASDAQ: CVLT) to $62.00 (from $55.00) following solid Q1 results.

Rakers commented, "Commvault’s F1Q17 results and commentary on: pipeline / funnel (large deals NOT factored into view that street estimates are “reasonable”), cloud-driven growth (60% increase in data managed using Commvault in public cloud over past 6 months), competitive positioning, forward sales productivity expansion, innovation pipeline/velocity, and distribution partner expansion reinforce our positive thesis. Commvault reported top/bottom-line upside w/ billings (rev. + change in deferred) +10% y/y and 6% ahead of our/street est.; services drove revenue upside (software in-line with our expectation). We would point out Commvault disclosed software-only deferred revenue of ~$3.007M exiting F1Q17, up from $1.578M in the prior quarter, representing the highest level since the September 2013 quarter. This reflects a large +$1M SaaS deal that included a managed services component, which from an account perspective requires ratable revenue recognition over 12 months. Commvault’s EBIT% at 9.8% was ahead of our/street estimate at 8.5%. FCF totaled $23.014M, or $0.50/sh. (~2.4x non-GAAP net income). With $410.2M in net cash, shares trade at ~2.7x EV/sales our F2018 revenue estimate vs. the historical ~4x forward EV/sales median. We move our target price from $55 to $62/sh., or ~3.5x EV/sales on our F2018 estimate."

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Shares of CommVault Systems closed at $49.07 yesterday.