Ping Identity rises as Stifel upgrade, sees benefits from Okta fallout
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Ping Identity Holding (NYSE:PING) shares rose on Thursday after Stifel upgraded the software company and raised its price target, noting it could benefit from the data breach at competitor Okta (OKTA).
Analyst Adam Borg raised his rating to buy from hold and upped the price target to $30 from $25, noting that the firm has recently warmed to the stock for a number of factors, including the data breach.
"Overall, Identity and Access Management is a foundational cybersecurity technology and Ping offers a leading enterprise-focused IAM platform for Workforce and Customer use cases," Borg wrote in a note to clients.
Ping (PING) shares rose nearly 4% to $24.89 in premarket trading on Thursday.
In addition, Borg noted that Ping has a broad software-as-a-service portfolio, is improving its execution and is growing its channel footprint.
Ping (PING) also has an opportunity to grow in the federal market and with the potential for the removal of the Vista overhang, Ping could deliver at least 20% annual recurring revenue growth in the next few periods and "shares can see multiple expansion as the company executes."
Improvements in Workforce and Identity and Access Management, or IAM, are necessary, as Ping has more than 1,400 customers, including more than 50% of the Fortune 100.
Borg also pointed out that securing customer and workforce identities is "increasingly important," due to more complex and evolving threats, coupled with more places to attack as work shifts to the cloud, employees work from anywhere and consumers shop from any device. 
Two important reasons for the upgrade are improved execution and growing its channel focus, something Borg said could be "an important driver as the company continues to expand its geographic reach."
Other reasons for the upgrade include the aforementioned federal opportunity, the removal of the Vista overhang, as well as opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell to customers and an attractive valuation.

Okta (OKTA) recently confirmed a data breach that saw as many as 366 Okta customers impacted. Several Wall Street firms cut their ratings on the stock as a result.

Earlier this month, Wedbush Securities mentioned Ping Identity Holding (PING) as a potential acquisition candidate for a larger tech company in the wake of Google's (GOOG) deal to buy Mandiant (MNDT).