UPDATE: Stifel Initiates Coverage On Kite Pharma On Potential Of KTE-C19

In a report published Tuesday, Stifel analyst Joel Sendek initiated coverage on

with a Buy rating and $31.00 price target. In the report, Stifel noted, “We are initiating coverage of Kite Pharma, Inc. (KITE) with a Buy rating and a $31 target price. "We believe that Kite's lead drug KTE-C19 has the potential to surpass $1 billion in worldwide sales treating diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We believe that Kite's technology platform, the development of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapeutics, is a novel way to treat cancer. We see the 80% objective response rate (ORR) and 60% complete response (CR) rate that KTE-C19 has generated in early testing in DLBCL as strongly outperforming current standard of care's 43% objective response rate. As we expect KTE-C19 to require only a single administration, we believe that Kite can justify a $200,000 price for the drug, which we estimate will lead to a profit despite our high $55,000 cost of production estimate.” Kite Pharma closed on Tuesday at $24.05.