NEW YORK – Jefferies on Monday upgraded shares of single-cell and spatial biology firm 10x Genomics to a "Buy" rating, though its price target remained unchanged at $24.
The upgrade is based on "conviction in single-cell [sequencing] recovery given continued utility in areas such as oncology research," Jefferies analyst Tycho Peterson wrote in a note to investors. 10x also offers superior technology versus competitors and has a large customer base of core labs, making it less dependent on National Institutes of Health funding levels. "To be clear, we are not making a call on the second quarter but upgrading on long-term conviction in the business and valuation," he wrote.
10x is also "well-positioned" to benefit from increased spatial biology funding from NIH, the note said.
In Monday morning trading on the Nasdaq, shares of 10x were up 5 percent at $17.62.
10x will report its second quarter financial results on Aug. 8.