NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Investment bank Piper Jaffray has upgraded its rating on Becton Dickinson's stock to Overweight and increased its price target.
Analyst William Quirk cited increased interest in microbiology diagnostic systems and BD's position in the market in a research note explaining the upgrade. In addition, he said BD could be poised to gain market share following a recent recall by Siemens of its MicroScan microbiology testing panels in the US.
BD sells the Kiestra lab automation system for clinical microbiology applications and the Phoenix automated microbiology system.
"As all manufacturers occasionally see recalls, we do not typically equate them with share shift, but given the significance of the Siemens' recall (class 1, 78,020 panels distributed over two years), we believe BD could see some incremental microbiology deals for its Phoenix system over the next year that could modestly benefit this segment's growth rate," Quirk wrote in the note.
"Combined with a delayed JNJ/Ypsomed pen needle launch and incremental European safety adoption, we believe numbers for BD will continue to climb and accordingly are raising our rating to Overweight with a $117 price target, up from $91," wrote Quirk.
Shares of BD closed up more than 1 percent at $102.32 in Wednesday trade on the New York Stock Exchange.