Analysts Call for Record Highs From 2 Software Stocks

Both stocks have been big winners already

Software stocks Atlassian Corporation PLC (NASDAQ:TEAM) and VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) have outperformed on the charts over the past year, and analysts are expecting more upside. Below is a look at this morning's Wall Street coverage on the shares of TEAM and VMW.

Atlassian was upgraded to "equal-weight" from "underweight" at Morgan Stanley, which moved its price target up to $145 from $99. The stock closed Wednesday at $126.25, up more than 100% in the past year, and it touched an all-time high of $131.99 on May 17. There's room for more bull notes to lift TEAM higher, since half those in coverage have just "hold" or "sell" ratings on the security.

Bullish betting has been building in the options pits, where more than 6,804 calls were bought to open in the past 10 days at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), compared to just 2,655 puts. The September 130 and June 140 calls saw the largest increases in open interest during that time.

Turning to VMW, Citigroup raised its price target to $235 from $201, calling for the shares to extend their almost 49% year-to-date advance. The stock settled at $203.72 on Wednesday, right below last week's record peak of $206.80. While the majority of brokerage firms recommend buying VMware, there are still eight bearish "hold" or "strong sell" recommendations on the books.

Near-term options traders are also positioned very bearishly, based on the Schaeffer's put/call volume ratio (SOIR) of 3.41, ranking in the 93rd annual percentile. This means traders targeting options expiring within three months are unusually put-heavy, and a gradual unwind of these positions could support VMW stock on the charts.