Piper Jaffray Neutral on Sequenom; $6.25 PT

In a note published today, Piper Jaffray reiterated a Neutral rating on biotech firm Sequenom SQNM with a $6.25 price target. That implies significant upside from where Sequenom currently trades. “Sequenom's management team described a stable inflow of samples following the mid-October launch of its MaterniT21 assay (Down syndrome). As a reminder, Sequenom is relying on ~40 blood draw stations across the country to draw and process (centrifuged, frozen) samples for testing. By mid-2012, Sequenom plans to have a process in place where freezing will not be required, enabling blood draws to be taken at a physician office and shipped directly to Sequenom's reference lab, which should benefit MaterniT21 test volumes, in our opinion,” Piper Jaffray said in the note.