What: Shares of Infoblox (NYSE: BLOX) slumped on Tuesday following a series of analyst downgrades. At 11:30 Tuesday morning, the stock was down about 11%, having recovered a bit from being down as much as 16% earlier in the day.
So what: Infoblox is scheduled to report its fiscal-first-quarter results on Nov. 30, and analysts from both Deutsche and Needham took the opportunity to adjust their ratings on the company. Vijay Bhagavath of Deutsche downgraded Infoblox to "sell," cutting his price target from $13 per share to just $7 per share. In September, Deutsche downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy," a move that followed a 40% collapse in the stock price in just a few short months.
Separately, Alex Henderson of Needham downgraded Infoblox to "hold" after maintaining a buy rating for about one year. Henderson cites concerns about product refresh timing issues and sales turnover, while reiterating that the long-term prospects of the company remain sound. Henderson cut his fiscal 2016 revenue estimate to $386 million, representing 26% growth, and his non-GAAP EPS estimate to $0.34, down from $419 million and $0.38, respectively.
Now what: Analysts upgrades and downgrades should always be taken with a grain of salt. With shares of Infoblox more than cut in half since June, it's not surprising that analysts have given up on their bullish calls. For investors, what matters is the performance of the company in the long term, not the wishy-washy opinions of analysts.
