Wall Street Zen Upgrades NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) to Strong-Buy

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $199.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.07.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $185.59 on Friday. NetApp has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $209.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $36.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $178.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.13.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%.The company’s revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. Equities analysts expect that NetApp will post 7.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth O’Callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,719,520. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 68.7% during the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp by 3.0% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MRWM Advisors LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 1.8% in the first quarter. MRWM Advisors LLC now owns 6,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported record fiscal first-quarter results, with revenue rising 29.9% year over year to $2.03 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.58 per share, well above consensus estimates of $1.84 billion and approximately $2.13 per share. NTAP Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Hybrid, Public Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS outlook to $9.73-$10.03 and forecast revenue of $7.975-$8.225 billion. Strong hybrid-cloud and public-cloud growth, all-flash storage demand and AI-related infrastructure upgrades are supporting the improved outlook. NetApp FY2027 Forecast and Raised EPS Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts largely raised their targets following the results. Goldman Sachs maintained a $210 target and TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating with a $200 target, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $191. NetApp also expanded its AWS relationship by enabling storage migrations to Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP through AWS Transform.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Citi downgraded the stock to Neutral with a $190 target, while Wedbush kept a Neutral rating despite raising its target to $170. The target changes suggest limited upside at current levels for some analysts.
• Negative Sentiment: The initial post-earnings selloff reflected a decline in free cash flow and management’s warning that second-quarter gross margin will decrease. Investors appear concerned that strong reported earnings and AI demand may not immediately translate into comparable cash generation.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.