UPDATE: Sterne Agee Upgrades athenahealth on Core Revenue Growth Acceleration

In a report published Friday, Sterne Agee analyst Greg T. Bolan upgraded the rating on athenahealth ATHN from Neutral to Buy, and raised the price target from $116.00 to $132.00. In the report, Sterne Agee noted, “Based on what we believe will be acceleration in ATHN's core revenue growth as well as moderation in selling and marketing expense growth, we see EBITDA growth accelerating in CY14/15. We are upgrading to Buy and raising our price target to $132 from $116. This represents 22x our CY15 EBITDA estimate, which we believe is fair given our estimate for an EBITDA CAGR of 45% through CY15.” athenahealth closed on Thursday at $105.47.