ASAN - Asana jumps nearly 10% as DA Davidson upgrades ahead of Q4

Asana ( NYSE: ASAN ) shares rose nearly 10% on Friday as investment firm D.A. Davison upgraded the work management software provider ahead of its fourth-quarter results.

Analyst Robert Simmons raised his rating on Asana ( ASAN ) shares to buy from neutral, noting that read-throughs from both Atlassian ( TEAM ) and monday.com ( MNDY ) were mixed, but not so bad as to cause concern.

"Monetization headwinds likely continued, but looking at closest comp Monday’s results and the stronger domestic performances of both datasets, we believe are unlikely to have been severe enough to cause concern, and we look for a larger [fourth-quarter] beat vs. guidance than the company posted last quarter," Simmons wrote in an investor note.

Atlassian ( TEAM ) and monday.com ( MNDY ) also rose sharply on Friday, including a 10% gain for Atlassian.

Simmons added that recent app data from Sensor Tower showed continued growth in active users and a "marked acceleration in downloads."

Looking ahead, Simmons said Asana's ( ASAN ) guidance for fiscal 2024 is important, especially in how company management, led by CEO Dustin Moskovitz, views the next fiscal year.

"[W]e land with seeing upside to the current consensus for 20% revenue growth (we also see upside to the consensus operating margin of -28%)," Simmons added.

Asana ( ASAN ) is slated to report fourth-quarter results on March 8 and a consensus of analysts expect the company to lose 27 cents per share on $145.12M in revenue .

For further details see: