New “buy” rating gives La Jolla Pharmaceutical stock a boost
A.G. Edwards initiated coverage of La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. (Nasdaq: LJPC) today with a “buy” rating.
The brokerage firm set a share price objective of $11, according to Reuters.
La Jolla’s stock was up $0.20, or 2.6%, to $7.72 on unusually heavy volume of 2.1 million shares this morning, after climbing as high as $8.68 – a new 52-week-high –earlier in the day on the news. Before today, shares had traded between $2.77 (on Dec. 22, 2006) and $8.57 (on March 13) in the past year.
On March 30, Pacific Growth Equities analyst Liana Moussatos adjusted her estimates for the San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company and calculated fair value at $9.91 per share. Like A.G. Edwards, Pacific Growth also maintains a buy rating on the stock.
In a March 30 report, Moussatos said she believed there were potential business development catalysts associated with La Jolla Pharmaceutical, including a potential partnership for its Lupus renal drug, Riquent. Clinical milestones, she said, include the completion of patient enrollment in the ongoing phase III study sometime this year.
On March 29, La Jolla announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 5.8 million shares of its common stock at $6 per share for a total offering of $34.8 million.
Looking ahead, Moussatos estimates that La Jolla will post a net loss of $1.00 per share on zero revenue for fiscal 2007. The company recorded a loss of $1.21 per share on zero revenue in fiscal 2006.
