Barclays upgrades Veeva to Overweight as defensive pick

Barclays analyst Saket Kalia upgraded Veeva Systems to Overweight from Equal Weight with an unchanged price target of $205. The company offers "defensiveness" given its life sciences base, where spending can grow in 2023, Kalia tells investors in a research note. The analyst also sees Veeva’s commercial business potentially accelerating from less churn and more data contribution. In addition, price increases de-risk its out-year billings growth, Kalia contends. He calls Veeva a defensive pick for 2023.