UPDATE: Citigroup Initiates Coverage On Atara Biotherapeutics On New Lead Product Candidates

In a report published Monday, Citigroup analyst Yaron Werber initiated coverage on Atara Biotherapeutics Inc ATRA with a Buy rating and $37.00 price target. In the report, Citigroup noted, “We are initiating coverage of Atara Biotherapeutics with a Buy rating and a $37 target price. Atara has two lead product candidates, PINTA 745 in ph2 development for protein energy wasting in ESRD, and STM-434 in ph 1 for selected ovarian cancers. While we recognize Atara is early stage, we view the severe unmet medical need in protein energy wasting in ESRD providing an enticing value proposition. Ph 2 data from PINTA 745 in H2:15 should provide the opportunity to de-risk this program, while STM-434 dose escalation data is expected in 2016. We reach our $37 target price based on 35x our ‘22 EPS estimates of $2.50 discounted by 15% annually.” Atara Biotherapeutics closed on Friday at $28.00.