Nutanix's Stock Soars After Goldman Sachs Turns Bullish

Share of Nutanix Inc. soared 11% in midday trade Monday, after Goldman Sachs turned bullish on the cloud computing company, saying the sharp selloff in the stock this year has provided an "attractive entry point" for new investors. Analyst Simona Jankowski raised her rating to buy, after starting coverage of the recent IPO at neutral on Oct. 25. After being one of the hottest IPOs of 2016, closing its second-day of trading at $44.46 on Oct. 3, or nearly triple the $16 IPO price, the stock tumbled to a low close of $14.46 on May 1, in the wake of a disappointing fiscal second-quarter earnings report and concerns over competition in the hyperconverged market, particularly following Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.'s acquisition of SimpliVity. But Jankowski believes those concerns are overdone. "We view this as a very attractive opportunity to buy the leader in hyperconverged infrastructure, which we view as the biggest trend in IT since public cloud," Jankowski wrote in a note to clients. She said new accounting rules that allows Nutanix to recognize software revenue upfront, rather than deferring them, should also help boost the stock. The shares were still down 33% year to date, while the Nasdaq Composite has rallied 14% and the S&P 500 has gained 6.9%.