Panmure Liberum upgrades Softcat to 'buy'

(Sharecast News) - Panmure Liberum upgraded Softcat to 'buy' from 'hold' on Friday to reflect the recent share price fall and five positive takeaways from its fireside chat with the company, which demonstrated that customer advocacy is strong, structural growth drivers have a long way to go and Softcat could ultimately benefit from Microsoft's incentive changes. Panmure, which kept its price target at 1,800p, said IT infrastructure and services provider Softcat is more than just a reseller.

"Clients value their expertise, breadth of offering and culture and relationships are stickier than we thought," it said.

It also said that Softcat was clear that the gap between its double-digit and Bytes Technology's flat performance in recent months was company specific.

In addition, Panmure noted that demand for more compute power and storage is structural.

"Softcat's big infrastructure deals are lumpy but could become business as usual," it said.

Panmure pointed out that the shift from on-prem to Cloud has a long way to go, and finally, it said that Microsoft incentive changes are being well navigated and are in Softcat's guidance.

At 0935 BST, the shares were up 1.7% at 1,636p.