Shares of Halogen Software (TSX:HGN) have spent much of 2016 recovering from a slide that began in the second half of 2015, but Industrial Alliance Securities analyst Blair Abernethy thinks there is still lots of upside in the stock.

In a research update to clients today, Abernethy maintained his “Buy” rating and one-year price target of $14.00 on Halogen Software, implying a return of 48.9 per cent at the time of publication, including dividend.

Yesterday, Halogen announced it had appointed two new execs, Paul Fitzpatrick and David Mennie to fill the roles of chief marketing officer and VP product management, respectively.

“Both Paul and David bring a proven, customer-centric focus and incredible domain expertise, leading fast growth teams in dynamic, mid-enterprise SaaS markets,” said CEO Les Rechan. “We’re thrilled to have them join our leadership team to help build on the strength and momentum of our global marketing and product organizations, and help position Halogen and our customers for even greater success.”

Abernethy says these hires are another part of a trend of positive changes at Halogen.

“We believe that Halogen continues to be well positioned to invest in the expansion of its solution offering and further grow its strategic partnerships,” says the analyst.

“We expect to see improving bookings performance in coming quarters and further positive partnership activity. We believe that CEO Les Rechen continues to make positive adjustments to the Halogen operations.”

Abernety expects Halogen will generate Adjusted EBITDA of $4.6-million on revenue of $72.8-million in fiscal 2016, numbers he expects will climb to EBITDA of $6.2-million on revenue of $83.0-million the following year.