RBC Sees 'Land-Grab' Opportunity For Mobileiron

Mobileiron Inc (NASDAQ: MOBL) stands to make hay from a trend toward employees using their own computer devices on secure corporate networks, an analyst said Thursday.

RBC Capital's Mark Sue launched coverage on the mobile device management company with a Buy rating and $13 target.

MobileIron is off nearly 20 percent from its initial public offering in June. It changed hands recently at $8.83, up $0.07.

Sue said Mobileiron is "at the epicenter" of an employee trend dubbed "bring your own device," or BYOD, which requires new forms of corporate security software.

Mobileiron is also gaining market share and should post billings growth in the current year of 35 percent, Sue said.

But competitive threats to Mobileiron loom from the vastly larger Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS), VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).

"It's a fluid market with a land-grab opportunity," according to Sue, who said Mobileiron needs to defend its turf with heavy spending.

Although it's seen consistent revenue growth, Sue doesn't foresee a profit for Mobileiron until 2017.