Piper Jaffray Neutral On Novell After Earnings Release (NOVL)

Piper Jaffray is maintaining its Neutral stance and $5.75 price target on shares of Novell, Inc. NOVL after the company reported earnings yesterday after the bell. Based on the bank's target price, there is slightly more than 2% upside to shares. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "Q3 results were inline with the downside preannouncement: revenue down 8% y/y, EPS down 12% y/y. Due to ongoing customer uncertainty stemming from NOVL's ongoing review of various alternatives to enhance stockholder value, NOVL did not provide guidance. We are essentially maintaining forecasts and continue to believe that the emerging VMware relationship is the most interesting recent development to help offset the decay of the Microsoft partnership. Maintain Neutral, expect volatility due to ongoing review process." Shares of Novell closed at $5.64 yesterday, a loss of 7 cents.