Software Stocks Get Mixed Ratings

SAN FRANCISCO -- Software stocks were on the move Monday as analysts shifted ratings both north and south and raised target prices for a handful of developers.

Analysts attempted to sort out whether small growth companies or big-ticket defensive stocks were better suited to the tough environment.

Tibco(TIBX Quote) was hardest hit by a Goldman Sachs downgrade, while investors also punished Salesforce.com (CRM Quote) . That company started the week with both an upgrade and a downgrade.

On a day when the iShares S&P GSTI Software Index was down a penny to $49.11, Tibco, which develops business management software, was off 78 cents, or 10.2%, to $6.84 in morning trading. Salesforce, which delivers subscription-based software over the Web, was down $2.85, or 4.8%, to $56.01.

Expecting slower software demand driven by economic uncertainty in early 2008, Goldman Sachs issued sell ratings on both stocks.

Among software companies, Tibco is vulnerable to reductions in IT spending for the first half of 2008, Goldman Sachs analyst Derek Bingham wrote. The company has high exposure to the beleaguered financial services sector "heading into the seasonally slower first half," he wrote. Tibco is an investment banking client of the firm.