BlackLine downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin downgraded BlackLine (BL) to Underweight from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $60. The company’s recovery prospects back to mid-teens growth “could remain challenging” as competition could require additional investments to build or buy financial consolidation product, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says its top picks for 2025 in cloud applications and analytics are centered on large and strategic vendors best poised to capitalize on artificial intelligence trends. 2025 and 2026 could usher in a renewed appetite to invest in the application and data layers after three years of moderating growth, the analyst tells investors.