BlackLine upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded BlackLine to Neutral from Underweight with a price target of $62, up from $55. The analyst says further downside risks appear limited relative to second half of 2024 consensus growth estimates of 8%. The estimate could prove too conservative based on improving cloud fundamentals at SAP where the cloud backlog increased by EUR 3B year-over-year to EUR 14.2B on 28% constant currency growth versus 27% last quarter, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm, however, says cloud backlog may take time to materialize into a tailwind for BlackLine. It notes about 25% of BlackLine sales were driven by the SAP partnership last year.