Novell "buy," target price raised

01/29/07 - Banc of America

NEW YORK, January 29 (newratings.com) - Analyst Kirk Materne of Banc of America Securities maintains his "buy" rating on Novell Inc (NOVL), while raising his estimates for the company. The target price has been raised from $7.50 to $8.

In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the FY07 and FY08 estimates for the company’s Linux operations have been raised following the quick ramp of SuSE licenses under the Microsoft partnership. The majority of this upside is expected to accrue in late FY07/FY08, the analyst says. The EPS estimate for FY08 has been raised from $0.16 to $0.17.