Goldman Sachs Reiterates Neutral, $55 target on Red Hat

Goldman Sachs maintains its Neutral rating and $55 price target on Red Hat RHT ahead of 3QFY2012 preview and as company continues to execute in a tough environment. Goldman says, “We are modeling total revenue and EPS of $289 mn and $0.26 (in line with the Street), which compares to guidance of $288-290 mn and $0.25-$0.26. Our checks suggest that while business remains relatively vibrant for Red Hat, the environment was slightly more challenging this quarter than in F2Q2012. In fact, our checks suggest the demand environment for Europe was strained in the last few weeks of November, which we do not view as a Red Hat specific problem.” RHT closed at $48.98 per share on Wednesday.