UPDATE: Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrades Pernix Therapeutics Holdings to Hold, Reiterates $2 PT Following 3Q:13 Miss, Lowered Guidance

In a report published Wednesday, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Irina Rivkind upgraded the rating on

from Sell to Hold, and reiterated the $2.00 price target. In the report, Cantor Fitzgerald noted, “On Nov. 12, Pernix reported revenues of $18.3M and loss per share of ($0.16) vs. $23.1M and ($0.11) FactSet consensus. Management lowered 2013 revenue guidance from $90-100M to $80M, which is more reasonable, in our view. Management expects to grow revenues in 2014 via a combination of pricing, commercial execution, and tactical additions to the portfolio, and we remain skeptical since prescription trends continue to decline in spite of all previous attempts to improve sales execution. We think that the company may be forced to explore strategic alternatives in the near future and for this reason we are upgrading our SELL rating to HOLD. We base our valuation on an equally weighted blend of DCF (~$0.50) and takeout scenario (~$3.20).” Pernix Therapeutics Holdings closed on Tuesday at $2.19.