Oppenheimer Initiates PACB At Perform, $15 PT

Oppenheimer is initiating coverage of Pacific Biosciences of California PACB with a Perform rating and a $15 PT.

“PACB is preparing for the commercial launch of the first true single molecule sequencing platform, the PacBio RS,” Oppenheimer writes.

“Although the system delivers on the promise of increased read length and low cost per experiment, it has disappointed on raw read accuracy and overall throughput. With a 38 system backlog ($24M), we see little risk to our first year estimates. However, given the current system specifications, we fear the PacBio RS may be pigeonholed into niche applications. Our $15 PT assumes a terminal growth rate of 2% on an estimated EBITDA of $123M in 2022.”

Pacific Biosciences closed today at $13.48.