Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Instructure was upgraded to overweight at Morgan Stanley on expectations that it will show stronger revenue growth and margins. The company’s move out of the higher-cost, development phase of its Bridge product make it one of the more compelling online education tech companies in the SaaS sector for efficient market penetration, analyst Brian Essex writes in a note.

• Shares rose as much as 8.7%, to the highest ever
• Expects the company to outperform the sector in 2018
• Greater market penetration is expected given its low customer acquisition costs; favors the company’s enterprise exposure
• Says legacy competitors are burdened with more complexity, on-premise solutions and product release delays
• Increases 2019 Ebitda to $12.1mm from $9.1mm
• Boosts PT to $39 from $35
• NOTE: 8 buys, no hold, no sells; avg PT $39: Bloomberg data

To contact the reporter on this story: Kristy Westgard in New York at kwestgard1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net Christiana Sciaudone