A Look At 3 Biotech Stocks With Plenty Of Upside Potential

Kite Pharma KITE continues on its winning streak, and is up about 11.42 percent on Friday. Although the stock more than tripled in price over the past six months, analysts still see upside left. In fact, Mizuho Securities initiated coverage on the stock on Friday, with a Buy rating and a $90 price target, while the stock still trades below $80.

How Are Peers Looking?

Much larger peer –in terms of market cap- Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD is also looking attractive. A few days ago, after the company struck a deal with CVS Health Corp, in which the pharmacy will now exclusively offer its hepatitis C drug, Harvoni, Barclays initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and $125 price target, while JP Morgan reiterated its Overweight rating.

Most recently, Gilead obtained orphan drug status for its Simtuzumab as a treatment for a rare disorder related to the liver. As explained in a previous article, “the designation, which concerns its potential as a treatment for primary sclerosing cholangitis, may provide Gilead increased patent protection and lower regulatory hurdles.”

Also bullish on Gilead is Deutsche Bank, which reiterated a Buy on December 23, accompanied by a $125 price target, as well.

The stock now trades around $120.21.

Another company on which Wall Street seems pretty bullish is Biogen Idec Inc. BIIB. Once again, both JP Morgan and Barclays recommended the stock recently. The former reiterated an Overweight rating with a $407 price target, qualifying the company’s pipeline as “one of the most compelling in large cap biotech, with highly innovative programs like LINGO in MS and various Alzheimer’s assets that, while early stage, have the potential to produce high profile data in 2015.”

For its part, Barclays initiated coverage on Biogen Idec with an Overweight rating and $425.00 price target, arguing that “Biogen's Tecfidera still offers a lot of upside in the multiple sclerosis (MS) market, especially in the EU, where it is early in the launch.”

Biogen Idec’s stock closed at $342.34 -down 2.26- on Friday.