Piper Jaffray Likes Sinovac Biotech (SVA)

Piper Jaffray is positive on Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

, as Bill Gates went to visit the company himself to seek out possible vaccine partners in China. It has an Overweight rating and a $9 price target on Sinovac. In the research note, Piper Jaffray writes, "We believe that the Gates foundation is looking for potential vaccine manufacturing partners in China, and has had multiple interactions with Sinovac, which led to Bill Gates' personal visit to the company last week. Positive outcome from a satisfactory due diligence could lead to capital investment ($20-30m) for upgrading production facility to WHO standard and potential vaccine orders from the Foundation. We note that Sinovac was the only vaccine manufacturing facility that Gates visited in China. Although we do not expect any meaningful near-term revenue upside from the discussion, we believe long-term upside could be substantial. Long-term opportunities such as this one are fundamental reasons behind our optimistic view on SVA shares, despite near-term quarter over quarter earnings volatility." Shares of Sinovac closed at $3.86 on Friday, a loss of 5 cents.