UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Maintains Buy, Raises PT to $56 on Red Hat

Stifel Nicolaus reiterates its Buy rating on Red Hat RHT and raises its price target to $56 from $47, reflecting expectations on F3Q12 results and in-line guidance. Stifel comments, “Red Hat is scheduled to report F3Q12 (November) earnings on December 19 after the market close. We expect the company to report revenues of $289.9mn (consensus is $289.4mn) and 25% billings growth and EPS of $0.25 (consensus is $0.26) with potential for upside driven by Red Hat's position as a standard in cost-effective, open data centers.” RHT closed at $45.98 per share on Wednesday.