Upgrade Sparks Parametric

Shares of engineering design software maker Parametric Technology(PMTC Quote) got a lift Tuesday from an analyst upgrade.

The stock was up 82 cents, or 4%, to $21.10 in afternoon trading. It has been rising since May 1, when it closed at $17.73.

Goldman Sachs analyst Sasa Zorovic upgraded the stock to a buy. "Our checks into the Parametric channel indicate strong sales in the June quarter ... and positive commentary regarding its most recent Windchill 9.0 release" of process-management software, he wrote.

Goldman makes a market in Parametric shares.

Noting the high crossover to computer-aided design software among the company's Windchill customer base, Parametric CFO Neil Moses noted at an investor conference June 11 that the company has just begun cross-selling its Windchill product into its CAD customer base, where penetration is only 10%.

Moses said the Needham, Mass.-based company has 25,000 maintenance-paying CAD customers. "The large majority of those customers are definitely Windchill candidates."

"For the first two quarters of this year ... we've grown at an average rate of 15% year over year," Moses said. He gave guidance for the current quarter, which ends June 30, of $950 million in revenue.

Growth in PTC's revenue lines is accelerating, he said. During the past 12 months, license revenue is up 30%, and maintenance revenue has grown 11% to 12%, he added.