RightNow Technologies upgraded by Baird analyst on expanded growth opportunities

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Ahead of the Bell: RightNow upgraded at Baird

PHILADELPHIA — RightNow Technologies Inc. is poised to benefit from a number of factors including expanded business opportunities for a new product that monitors customer conversations over social networking sites, an analyst said Monday as he upgraded the company’s stock.

Baird analyst Steven Ashley upgraded RightNow, a provider of customer relationship management software, to “Outperform” from “Neutral.”

He said RightNow’s new product lets corporate clients monitor their customers’ chatter over Twitter and other social Web sites to identify those venting their frustrations. The product also lets the companies build community support sites within these Web sites.

Ashley also noted that RightNow increasingly has gotten a number of large deals. In the past three years, total deals over $1 million have risen from 12, to 21 to 26.

RightNow, based in Bozeman, Mont., also has started to expand into the customer phone support area, which the analyst believes is a big new market opportunity.

Ashley also said recent investor concerns about lack of growth in deferred revenue “are overblown.” But he believes the quarter-over-quarter decline hides RightNow’s business momentum.