Couchbase price target lowered to $16 from $22 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler lowered the firm’s price target on Couchbase (BASE) to $16 from $22 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm cut estimates and price targets across the cloud applications and analytics sector reflect increasing near-term headwinds to growth from tariff, policy, and artificial intelligence adoption hurdles. The application software names appear “battered and bruised on eroding investor sentiment” tied to moderating industry growth for the fourth straight year and AI adoption hurdles “that suggest the bloom might be coming off the AI rose,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. Piper says valuation multiples have retrenched to the lowest in seven years while the tariff direct impact to software models is minor.