Investors Underappreciate Imperva's Restructuring Efforts, Product Strategy, KeyBanc Says In Upgrade

The restructuring initiatives that cybersecurity company Imperva Inc (NASDAQ: IMPV) announced in January could bring more benefits than anticipated, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets.

The Analyst

Analyst Rob Owens upgraded Imperva from Sector Weight from Overweight with a $65 price target.

The Thesis

Following the completion of restructuring efforts in the first quarter, Imperva continues to enact strategic changes, Owens said in a Monday note. (See the analyst's track record here.) 

This will likely improve top-line momentum exiting calendar 2018, as well as an enhanced profitability profile thereafter, the analyst said. 

Imperva suggested on its second-quarter earnings call that it will unveil a new product strategy, Owens said. The strategy would present opportunities for aligning deployment models with the hybrid cloud; expanding market share in data analytics; and improving recognition of Imperva's feature differentiation, according to KeyBanc. 

Owens views the company's valuation setup as favorable, as the shares are trade at a meaningful discount to cybersecurity companies with comparable on-premise offerings, he said. 

The Price Action

Imperva shares have risen about 25 percent year-to-date.

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