What happened
Shares of Box (NYSE: BOX) jumped 23.9% in January, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence , after multiple analysts offered encouraging notes on the cloud content management specialist.
To be fair, Box's rise was aided by strong gains from the broader stock market last month as with the S&P 500 adding around 8%. But Box's gains were further spurred mid-month with "buy" ratings issued from analysts at both Rosenblatt Securities and Craig-Hallum.
So what
More specifically, Rosenblatt analyst Marshall Senk's upgrade of Box to buy (from neutral) came on Jan. 15, 2019. To justify his relative bullishness, Senk argued that Box is poised to outperform in the coming year given a "significant product cycle, new sales focus, and market maturity [...]."
Meanwhile, the following week Craig-Hallum's Chad Bennett initiated his own coverage on Box with the same rating and a $30-per-share price target. Even after Box's rise, the latter still marks a more than 20% premium from today's price as of this writing. Hallum, for his part, believes that Box is still in its early stages of platform monetization, and will soon see revenue growth accelerate to the mid- to high-20% range -- up from the 20.6% growth it delivered in its most recent quarter.
Now what
As it stands, barring a preliminary earnings release in the next couple of weeks, Box investors will receive more color on its recent achievements when the company announces fiscal fourth-quarter results on Feb. 27, 2019 after the market closes . But given these two votes of confidence from Wall Street in the meantime, it's no surprise that shares soared in response.
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Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Box. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
