UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Downgrades Illumina to Neutral on Tough 2H13 Comps

In a report published Tuesday, Piper Jaffray analyst William R. Quirk downgraded the rating on

from Overweight to Neutral, and lowered the price target from $72.00 to $70.00. In the report, Piper Jaffray noted, “Our downgrade reflects concerns over increasingly more challenging 2H13 comps, likely limiting upside in the back-half of the year, and with the current valuation. We are also adjusting our forward estimates (increasing share count, pulling forward HiSeq upgrade revenue, trimming Verinata), with our updated F2013 and F2014 estimates now $1,349.7M/$1.65 (were $1,340.1M/$1.67) and $1,511.9M/$1.91 (were $1,553.1M/$1.96). We are maintaining our multiple (34x 2014 EPS + net cash/share), yielding a $70 price target (was $72). With ILMN shares trading above our $70 price target, we view shares as fully valued and believe a Neutral rating is more appropriate.” Illumina closed on Monday at $76.27.