Why PagerDuty Stock Blasted 31% Higher This Week Edit My Quotes

What happened

Cloud stock PagerDuty (NYSE: PD) absolutely clobbered the market this week, rising by over 31% across the last five trading days. Late in the week the company delivered estimates-beating quarterly results, and this positive momentum continued with a pair of analysts lifting their price targets on the stock.

So what

PagerDuty released its results for the fourth quarter of 2021 on Thursday, and they put a big collective smile on investors' faces.

Image source: Getty Images.

Growth was very strong, with revenue rising by over 32% on a year-over-year basis, on the back of spending by existing customers that advanced by 24%. The company landed in the red according to non-GAAP (adjusted) standards, but the loss was narrower than expected by analysts tracking the stock. Revenue guidance also topped expectations, both for the current first quarter and for the entirety of 2022.

Two of those analysts -- Matthew Hedberg of Royal Bank of Canada's RBC Capital Markets, and Brian White of Monness, Crespi, Hardt -- were impressed enough to raise their price targets on PagerDuty shares. Hedberg increased his slightly, to $46 per share from the previous $45, while White pushed his $4 higher to $44. Both prognosticators are maintaining the equivalent of buy recommendations on the stock.

Now what

Both analysts feel that PagerDuty has a bright future ahead of it. What's more, it's cheap.

In a new research note, White wrote that the company "has a large opportunity in the real-time digital operations market, playing into the digital transformation trend, but with a more modest valuation compared to other next-gen software vendors."

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns and recommends PagerDuty. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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