Riverbed Buying Opportunity - Lazard

Riverbed (RVBD) shares are on the rise this morning, aided by a bullish research note on the WAN optimization specialist from Lazard Capital analyst Ryan Hutchinson.

Hutchinson this morning repeated his Buy rating on the stock, and raising his target price to $20 from $18. “Our checks indicate that business is tracking well in Q2 and is much less back-end loaded than the disappointing March quarter,” he writes. “Although the overall environment remains sluggish, we believe Riverbed has secured a handful of large deals, including an order with the federal government.”

Hutchinson notes that RVBD shares have been under pressure from concerns about long-term market inhibitors, including competition from integrated branch office routers and the adoption of desktop virtualization. “These trends are not new and have provoked an overreaction in the market, largely the result of a high level of anxiety built into the name,” he writes.

Hutchinson upped his 2008 EPS estimate to 52 cents from 50 cents; for 2008 he goes to 79 cents from 72 cents. The increases reflect “increased confidence in the company’s near-term outlook.”

RVBD today is up 91 cents, or 6.4%, to $15.11 at 11:42AM EDT.