UPDATE: Wedbush Initiates Coverage On Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals On Room To Grow

In a report published Tuesday, Wedbush analyst Heather Behanna initiated coverage on

with an Outperform rating and $31.00 price target. In the report, Wedbush noted, “Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals is a Lexington, MA-based biotechnology company focused on the development of antibiotics to combat multi-drug resistant infections. Its proprietary tetracycline chemistry platform has enabled a pipeline of differentiated clinical candidates. Lead compound eravacycline is in Phase III development for abdominal infections (cIAI) and urinary tract infections (cUTI). Eravacycline is a next-generation tetracycline available once or twice daily by infusion or in a tablet form – a key differentiator, in our view. We believe previous data for eravacycline has de-risked the pivotal studies; we anticipate positive data from the Phase III studies in cIAI and cUTI in 1Q15 and mid-2015, respectively, which we believe should act as catalysts for the stock. The stock has appreciated recently; however, we see room for further upside as Phase III data reads out next year, an ex-US partnership is struck, or the company is acquired.” Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals closed on Tuesday at $23.49.