Wall Street is feeling good about things at systems management firm BMC Software Inc. Analyst Charles Phillips of Morgan Stanley says he is encouraged about the company’s product flow, margin outlook, and near term business prospects. Morgan Stanley has raised its price target to $78 from $69 to reflect on-going momentum in the business. Phillips feels BMC’s emphasis on named accounts and focusing more dedicated resources on large accounts is starting to payoff. The company plans to grow its named account base from 50 customers to 100 over the next two years. He also points out that margins in the non-mainframe business are showing significant improvement and giving management more confidence about the long-range outlook for margins in the open systems business. Wendell Laidley of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell says that BMC management are confident with third quarter estimates of $190m in revenues and net income of $0.57 per share, as well as $200m in open systems, an increase of 100% year-over- year. Laidley also indicated that European business is continuing to accelerate, with improved sales balance among countries. BMC shares closed on Friday at $70.625, up $1.
