Morgan Stanley sees challenging path forward for Workday shares

Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss reiterated an Equal Weight rating and $280 price target on Workday (WDAY) after the company announced the return of Aneel Bhusri as CEO. Given Aneel’s history of innovation, it appears as though the board sees his experience and leadership as crucial to accelerate AI innovation at the company with the hope they can start showing Workday core solutions are effectively participating in this innovation cycle and improving the company’s growth rate, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm added that the move makes it feel incrementally worse about Workday’s near-term growth trajectory, potentially signaling the board did not like where growth was heading, and sees a challenging path forward for the stock over the next 12 months.