UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Upgrades Life Technologies to Neutral on Thermo Fisher Acquisition

Goldman Sachs analyst Isaac Ro published a report on Life Technologies

that upgraded the stock from Sell to Neutral and raised the price target from $48.00 to $74.00. In the report, Goldman Sachs wrote, "We now see increased likelihood that LIFE will trade on M&A expectations and not on fundamentals. We incorporate an M&A premium into our valuation methodology to reflect high probability of a transaction. To derive the M&A value, we apply a 13X EV/EBITDA multiple to trailing twelve month EBITDA, consistent with recent Life Science Tools and Diagnostics transactions (see Exhibit 1). On fundamentals, we continue to believe near-term organic growth will be pressured by government austerity as evidenced by our latest proprietary survey work published this morning[.]" Shares of Life Technologies are trading up 7.46 percent from Friday's $68.00 closing price.