What happened
On a generally bullish Tuesday for the stock market, many titles -- even in the out-of-fashion tech sector -- rose handsomely in price. Unfortunately for Coupa Software (COUP) investors, their stock wasn't one of them. The company essentially traded flat on the day as the S&P 500 index rose at a nearly 1% clip. But that's what often happens when a company is dinged by numerous analyst downgrades.
So what
The various downgrades were understandable following the Monday run-up in Coupa stock. The company has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in an all-cash deal price-tagged at $81 per share (working out to $8 billion in enterprise value). This will take the company private, removing it from the public market.
As usually happens in such situations, the share price leaped to nearly that amount and has remained there since. Hence the downgrades.
To be fair, not all analysts downshifted their recommendations on Coupa. Several that had price targets below that $81 mark actually upped them. But in every case, the resulting new take on the stock was the equivalent of neutral. In other words, nearly every prognosticator is expecting the deal to go through and thus to add little upside to its current level.
Now what
In some ways, the Coupa deal doesn't come as a great surprise. Like many other tech companies, it has seen its share price decline considerably as investors shun titles in the sector. Meanwhile, it focuses on a particular type of enterprise product it brands "business spend management software," and thus targets corporate clients that tend to have far larger budgets than individuals.
