KeyBanc assumes Asana with Underweight on estimate concerns

KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader assumed coverage of Asana with an Underweight rating and $14 price target. The analyst sees “a lot of moving pieces within Asana at the moment,” including a new pricing and packaging rollout, artificial intelligence features being embedded in the product, an overhaul of the go-to-market motion, a weak labor market in its most important end-market, and increasing competition from pure-play competitors and larger enterprise vendors. Collaboration priorities in the enterprise is not strengthening while competition closing the technology gap with Asana, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says consensus estimates for Asana “make us nervous.”