Confluent price target raised to $29 from $28 at Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick raised the firm’s price target on Confluent to $29 from $28 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after its Q4 results. Results were in line with last week’s "mostly positive" preannouncement, with profit and loss metrics overachieving in the quarter. However, bookings/backlog were lighter than expected, which was chalked up to further macro related enterprise deal cycle elongation, the analyst tells investors. The firm believes margin upside and an accelerated path to profitability were well received as the company enters 2023 with greater backlog visibility and a greater percentage of fully ramped sales reps.