Cantor Boosts Ligand Pharma Target To $93

In a report published Friday, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Irina Rivkind Koffler maintained a Hold rating on Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. LGND, while raising the price target from $86 to $93.

While the stock appears to be “fairly valued, we are positively biased ahead of the July 26 Kyprolis secondline label expansion PDUFA in multiple myeloma,” analyst Irina Rivkind Koffler said.

Ligand has recently upped its 2Q15 EPS guidance from $0.37-$0.40 to $1.71-$1.75 to reflect a onetime gain of $28.2M from the Viking IPO. Ligand owns a stake of 48.7 percent in Viking. The company also raised its 2015 EPS guidance from $2.14-$2.18 to $3.45-$3.50, while keeping its revenue guidance unchanged at $81-$83M.

In the report Cantor Fitzgerald noted the reasons for the upward revision of the price target as:

• Lowering of share count after a review of dilution assumptions with management
• Adding R&D expense to the model, since Ligand plans to conduct “a Phase II trial of LGD-6972 in type 2 diabetes, which will report out in 2017”
• Adding some "other" expense related to Viking, “which management attributed to tax and accounting expenses”
• Pushing out of “royalty revenue associated with Melinta's Delafloxacin to 2017 from 2016 since data from the second Phase III trial are not expected until 2H:15”