UPDATE: Dawson James Initiates Coverage on Ariad Pharmaceuticals with Market Outperform Rating, $32 PT

In a report published Friday, Dawson James initiated coverage on Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARIA) with a Market Outperform rating and $32.00 price target.Dawson James noted, “We are initiating coverage of Ariad Pharmaceuticals with a Market Outperform rating and a twelve-month price target of $32. Ariad is a developer of differentiated cancer medicines characterized by best-in-class properties such as efficacy, safety/tolerability and patient convenience. Ariad is developing two compounds with blockbuster potential: ponatinib, for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and AP26113 (‘113) for the treatment of ALK- and EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Ariad represents a rare investment opportunity in the biotechnology space - that of a self-sufficient, fully integrated company that develops and markets its own products on a worldwide basis. In many ways, Ariad reminds us of Celgene (CELG, Market Outperform) in the early years of the development of Revlimid, with similar longterm potential.”Ariad Pharmaceuticals closed on Thursday at $21.91.