Confluent price target lowered to $30 from $32 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Rob Owens lowered the firm’s price target on Confluent to $30 from $32 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The analyst continues to see multiple opportunities across his software universe, saying valuations appear "relatively de-risked and underlying trends prove resilient." However, he believes there is still more bad news to come, especially on the economic front. As such, 2023 "potentially sets up as a stock picker’s year," Owens tells investors in a research note. His top five ideas include Okta (OKTA), Palo Alto (PANW), Crowdstrike (CRWD), ServiceNow (NOW) and Cyberark (CYBR).