UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Reiterates Overweight Rating, Removes PT on WuXi PharmaTech on Long-Term Investment

In a report published Thursday, Morgan Stanley analyst Bin Li reiterated an Overweight rating on WuXi PharmaTech WX, but removed the $45.00 price target. In the report, Morgan Stanley noted, “1Q14 non-GAAP EPS of US$0.40 (+13% YoY) beat our estimate by 7% excluding FX impact and other gains (-$0.10 EPS impact). Although the increasing investment in new facilities, R&D and sales force expansion will continue to pressure OPM in 2014, all provide long term sustainable growth, in our view. Sales growth is unchanged at 14-16%YoY to US$660-$670mn. Excl. mark-to- market FX gain of US$0.20, non-GAAP EPS growth guidance increased to 10-13% YoY to US$2.00-$2.05 in 2014 (up from US$1.95-$2.00 previously) on the gain on venture investment. 2Q14 sales is forecasted to reach US$160-$162mn (+13-14% YoY) and Non-GAAP EPS to reach US$0.46-$0.48 (flat-3% YoY), including -US$0.01 FX loss (management's estimate).” WuXi PharmaTech closed on Wednesday at $36.40.