Check Point upgraded at Raymond James, checks suggest 'strong near-term demand'
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Check Point (NASDAQ:CHKP) is getting an upgrade from Raymond James, as the investment firm notes that recent channel checks have shown "strong near-term demand" and the stock is trading well below its peers.
Analyst Adam Tindle raised his rating to outperform and put a $140 price target on the stock, noting that Check Point (CHKP) is seeing strong demand for its subscriptions and is seeing net new customers, coupled with the potential for a "mid/high-single digit" price increase in the first half of 2022.

"We acknowledge longer-term structural concern over the fate of the firewall, but Check Point does generate healthy cash flow on top of already significant balance sheet optionality for further platform expansion, and we still think this is a stock that can work over our NTM time horizon given the healthy growth dynamics we are hearing," Tindle wrote in a note to clients.
Check Point (CHKP) shares were up slightly less than 1% to $120.50 in pre-market trading.
Additionally, Tindle pointed out that Wall Street is expecting just 4% growth this year, despite the fact Check Point (CHKP) is likely to raise prices in the first half of 2022 by "mid/high-single digits," which could help support shares, considering they are trading at 11 times free cash flow, more than 50% below its peers, such as Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) or Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT).
Last month, Check Point (CHKP) was mentioned as one of the stocks to keep an eye on for a possible bounce in the NASDAQ 100.