Imperial Raises Control4 Price Target on Pakedge, EA Series Momentum

Imperial Capital raised the price target for Control4 to $11 from $8.50, while maintaining an in-line rating, in a Monday research note. Imperial analysts Jeff Kessler and Saliq Khan cited Control4’s buy of networking company Pakedge and the launch of its $500 EA-1 series controller, as differentiators having a “positive impact” on growth. Despite momentum, some investors “may be frustrated with the company’s largely hardware strategy, which has in recent quarters adversely impacted Control4’s core revenue growth rate,” Imperial said. The Pakedge buy should give Control4 access to a larger customer base and increase the frequency of product sales since Pakedge products have much shorter sale cycles, it said. Imperial is looking to Control4's newly tapped Senior Vice President-Worldwide Sales Bryce Judd to boost growth and execution, increase upselling to current customers and expand the number of active dealers, it said.