UPDATE: Aegis Capital Raises PT on Catalyst Pharmaceutical Following 2Q 2013 Financial Results

In a report published Friday, Aegis Capital analyst Raghuram Selvaraju reiterated a Buy rating on Catalyst Pharmaceutical CPRX, and raised the price target from $2.50 to $3.00.

In the report, Aegis Capital noted, “Earlier this week, Catalyst reported financial results for 2Q 2013. While the net loss per share was slightly higher than we had forecast at $0.08 vs. our expectation of $0.06, we note that the firm closed the quarter with roughly $11.4mm in cash and equivalents and it continues to manage spending on the G&A front, where expenses were only $0.5mm, well below our expectation of $1.2mm. We currently expect the company to complete enrollment in the Firdapse™ Phase 3 trial in October or November of this year. Investors are reminded that this study was originally started by BioMarin Pharmaceuticals (BMRN/NASDAQ, Not Rated), which out-licensed the North American rights to Catalyst in late 2012. We anticipate top-line data from this Phase 3 trial to be reported in 2Q 2014, in line with prior guidance. Since the recent increase in the firm's share price, we have revised our share count projections to reflect lower dilution from financing going forward. Accordingly, we maintain our Buy rating and raise our 12-month price target from $2.50 to $3.00 per share.”

Catalyst Pharmaceutical closed on Thursday at $1.34.