https://www.barrons.com/articles/splunk-stock-price-earnings-nvidia-abfdf7f8?mod=bol-social-tw
It’s somewhat apt that Splunk SPLK +14.49% ’s impressive second-quarter earnings and guidance are being overshadowed by Nvidia ’s blowout results.
Investors haven’t appreciated Splunk (ticker: SPLK), a cybersecurity and data analytics software company, as much as chip maker Nvidia NVDA +2.85% (NVDA) this year. Despite unveiling new artificial-intelligence offerings last month, Splunk’s shares have risen 16% so far this year through Wednesday, while Nvidia stock has more than tripled. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 indexSPX +0.19% has risen 15%.
Splunk shares won’t remain inconspicuous for much longer—the stock opened 14% up at $113.80 Thursday.
Evercore ISI analysts, led by Kirk Materne, said they expect the shares to rally in the coming months. They have an Outperform rating on Splunk stock with a target price of $125, implying a 25% upside from Wednesday’s closing price.
“While Splunk remains off most investor radar screens (for now), management continues to deliver on driving more profitable growth, and we believe Splunk remains one of the more idiosyncratic stories in software heading into the second half of 2023 and 2024,” Materne noted.
He added that the stock could continue to rally following its earnings and again into its newly announced analyst day early next year, ”as investors circle back to the name.”
