Commvault climbs following positive earnings, receives upgrade

Commvault Systems (NASDAQ:CVLT) shares rose 2.3% in early trading after the data protection company reported better-than-expected earnings and was upgraded by KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Commvault was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight by analysts at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The bank also set Commvault's price target to $109.

Commvault, a data management provider, has entwined hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence into its cybersecurity solutions for backup, recovery and ransomware, KeyBanc said. This, combined with improving fundamentals, led to the upgrade.

The successful results of the quarter were in part due to Commvault Cloud, "a revolutionary platform for cyber resilience," Commvault CEO Sanjay Mirchandani said during Tuesday's earnings call.

The company introduced Commvault Cloud, powered by Metallic AI, in November.

"This transition has fueled the most important pivot in our 27-year history," Mirchandani said.

"We scale the platform, integrating with major hyper-scalers, as well as leading cyber security and AI companies like Avira, Darktrace (OTCPK:DRKTF), Databricks, Microsoft's (MSFT) Sentinel and Palo Alto Networks (PANW) among others," Mirchandani added. "I'm pleased to share that customers, partners, and industry analysts have been raving about it."

Analysts are mixed on Commvault. It has a HOLD rating from Seeking Alpha authors, but a BUY rating from Wall Street analysts. It also has a HOLD rating from Seeking Alpha's quant system, which consistently beats the market.