UPDATE: Bank of America Reiterates Buy Rating, Raises PT on Salix Pharmaceuticals on Pipeline Credit

In a report published Wednesday, Bank of America analyst Gregg Gilbert reiterated its Buy rating on Salix Pharmaceuticals

, and raised his price target from $50.00 to $56.00. In the report, Gilbert noted, “We now include what we see as conservative sales assumptions for two late-stage pipeline products, rifaximin EIR for Crohn's disease and budesonide foam for ulcerative proctitis. SLXP could launch budesonide foam in 2014 and rifaximin EIR in 2017, with the products fitting nicely into SLXP's existing franchise. For the stock to do well from here, we need to see continued strong growth for Xifaxan and positive results from the Xifaxan IBS re-treatment study late this year/early next. While the risk/reward is less compelling than it was when we launched in Oct-11, we like the company's scarcity value in a consolidating environment.” Salix Pharmaceuticals closed on Tuesday at $48.98.