Concur shares rise after analyst upgrades, says company benefits from little competition

Concur climbs after analyst upgrades stock

SAN FRANCISCO — Shares of Concur Technologies Inc. rose Wednesday after an analyst upgraded the on-demand expense management software maker’s stock, saying it faces little competition and predicting its revenue growth will speed up through next year.

THE SPARK: In a Wednesday client note, RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Breza upgraded Concur to “Outperform” from “Sector Perform” and raised his price target by $10 to $50.

THE BIG PICTURE: On-demand software companies, which offer software over the Web and can save businesses money, are growing as companies increasingly turn to them instead of installing and updating software on individual computers.

THE ANALYSIS: Breza said that the stock “should reward investors due to low competition, expanding partner ecosystem, a broadening management team and an improving vertical.” He said the lack of competition stems from Concur’s ability to innovate better than others in the travel and expense report categories.

SHARE ACTION: Up $2.55, or 6.6 percent, to $41.35 in afternoon trading.