UPDATE: Credit Suisse Raises Price Target On Kite Pharma On AMGN Deal

In a report published Tuesday, Credit Suisse analyst Jason Kantor reiterated an Outperform rating on Kite Pharma Inc KITE, and raised the price target from $71.00 to $79.00. In the report, Credit Suisse noted, “The AMGN deal is a significant positive for KITE, which (1) gains access to targets, not necessarily in the public domain, to build its internal pipeline independent of the work at NCI, (2) receives funding to support the necessary build out of key R&D infrastructure, and (3) retains rights to its technology and clinical candidates both within and outside of the partnership. AMGN is an ideal partner because of its extensive work in the field of targeted T-cell therapies after its acquisition of Micromet. Investors can gain further confidence in KITE's manufacturing, which we assume AMGN diligenced carefully given their reliance on KITE for initial clinical manufacturing. The deal also provides additional non-dilutive funding (KITE will have approximately $450M in cash following the $60M upfront). We are increasing our TP to $79 from $71 following the announcement of the deal with AMGN.” Kite Pharma closed on Monday at $69.75.