UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Cuts PT to $34 on National Instruments

Stifel Nicolaus lowers its price target from $36 to $34 on National Instruments NATI as coverage transitions between analysts, but reaffirms its Buy rating on the company as its disruptive model gains scale. Stifel Nicolaus notes, "We maintain our Buy on National Instruments as our research indicates that the company's operations are attaining critical mass and that NATI's sales growth rate and operating margin should remain above the past 10-year average for the next several years, likely driving multi-year multiple expansion for the stock. Additionally, although NATI continues to focus on driving shareholder value through internal growth by increasing its investment in R&D, we expect NATI to focus on leveraging aggressive workforce additions in 2011 (up 18.1% y/y), which is likely to result in more reasonable expansion of operating expenses and drive operating leverage over the next several years." NATI closed at $26.84 on Wednesday.