Wall Street analysts are weighing in as very bullish on Red Hat after the Hatters delivered a Street-beating performance in its most recent quarter and forecast growth that is close to their expectations. Why several ratings to “buy” were reaffirmed, analysts also did raise share target prices.

Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) on Thursday reported earnings of 44 cents per share, 3 better than estimates from Thomson Reuters. Revenues hit $481 million, up 14 percent from a year ago. That was nearly $10 million better than expected. For the current quarter, Red Hat sees earnings of 44 cents and revenue between $492-496 million. Analysts expect 45 cents and $493 million in revenue.

[For WTW Insiders: Clouds on the horizon? An in-depth analysis of where Red Hat stands.]

By the way, Red Hat is meeting with analysts on June 24 for a full briefing.

Here’s what the Street is saying today:

  • Canton Fitzgerald keeps Red Hat as a buy and raises its share target price $5 to $90.

Street Insider reported Canton Fitzgerald analyst as pointing out:

“Last night, Red Hat delivered a strong 1Q:FY16 with a healthy outlook, and we are reiterating our BUY rating on the stock. In our view, the combination of healthy trends in the core business with RHEL and strong growth in emerging technologies is increasingly positioning Red Hat as the go-to player in the open source software world, a trend that we believe is poised for continued momentum over the coming years. At the same time, Red Hat’s expanding reach provides the company with more financial levers to pull and offers investors more reasons to own the stock. As such, we are slightly tweaking our estimates and raising our price target to $90.00 (from $85.00).”

  • JMP Securities keeps a “market outperform” on RHT and raises its share target to $81 from $79.

Benzinga says JMP analyst Greg Mcdowell was impressed: “[W]e felt the quarter was strong overall (short term billings were up 24% in constant currency) and the company guided well, in our view, raising full-year non-GAAP EPS guidance and maintaining full-year revenue and operating cash flow guidance, in spite of FX headwinds of 850 bps in Q1. …

“We like Red Hat as we believe it will continue to be a “share gainer” against Unix and Windows, and we feel that JBoss and OpenStack can become meaningful contributors to the business over the next few year.”

Other headlines

  • JPMorgan Chase & Co.. raised its share target to $80
  • “Red Hat Price Target Raised to $85.00 at Stifel Nicolaus”

Dakota Financial News:

“Equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) from $79.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday. The firm currently has a ‘buy’ rating on the open-source software …”

  • Red Hat Price Target Increased to $86.00 by Analysts at Needham & Company …

Dakota Financial News:

“Investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) from $82.00 to $86.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the open-source software …”

  • Cowen Remains Bullish on Red Hat (RHT) Following 1Q16 Results

StreetInsider.com:

“Cowen reiterates an Outperform rating and $85.00 price target on Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) following 1Q16 results. F1Q revenues of $481m came in above consensus estimates of $473m. Adjusted EPS of $0.42 exceeded the Street’s $0.41 estimate.”

Not everyone says Red Hat is a buy, however.

Jefferies, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup maintained “hold” or “neutral” ratings.

At least they didn’t shout “Sell!”