Boston, MA 03/26/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) on a note issued to investors Tuesday. The firm elevated RAX from “equal weight” to “overweight” and went on to cite that the stock was poised to hit price target of $45. Analysts at Morgan Stanley observed that RAX shows ability to overcome the hurdles which caused it poor performance in the past year. Rackspace’s performance was dogged with decelerating revenue, issues of CEO retirement in February and intense competition. But the company is bringing these concerns under control in an impressive pace, and this should ease the pressure on the performance of the stock. Talk about performance and the company witnessed its shares going up almost 4 percent to $33.86 during Tuesday session on the back of positive rating from Morgan Stanley. Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX)’s Tuesday session which was characterized with above average volume saw shares shifting between $33 and $35.70, having opened at $34.51.
Varonis Systems Inc (NASDAQ:VRNS) shares popped during trading Tuesday after the company attracted coverage from no less than five firms. Shares jumped 20 percent on the day and settled up 19.91 percent at $43.78, on day of above average volume trading. The coverage on the stock came after the expiration of the quite period that SEC imposed after the IPO. Three ratings firms planted equivalent of “buy” on the stock and issued premium price targets. Analysts at Jefferies, Needham and RBC Capital issued price targets of $45, $48 and $50 respectively. Two other rating firms Barclays and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) assigned equivalent of “hold” rating on the stock and issued price target of $42. Although shares of Varonis Systems Inc (NASDAQ:VRNS) popped on the upgrades and widely positive coverage, they remain 23 percent lower than their post-IPO high price.
Orient Paper Inc (NYSEMKT:ONP) reported fourth quarter 2013 earnings Tuesday. The North China paper manufacturer came up with widely positive earnings, notwithstanding decline in revenue. Net income in the quarter jumped 75 percent to $3.5 million or 19 cents per share. That compared with $2 million or 11 cents per share noted in the same quarter a year earlier. However, the quarter suffered more than 19 percent revenue decline. As for the full year, Orient Paper Inc (NYSEMKT:ONP) expects net income to report in the range of $15 – $17 million or 81 – 90 cents. Revenue for the full-year has been modeled to come between $146 and $161 million.
