UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Reiterates Buy Rating, Raises PT for Edwards Lifesciences

In a company update published earlier today, the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. reiterated its Buy rating for Edwards Lifesciences Corp.

and raised its price target from $90.00 to $97.00, related to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) releasing the final Medicare National Coverage Determination (NCD) document yesterday. Goldman Sachs went on to say “Now that the guidelines have been issued, we think the ramp in center opening should accelerate (Edwards had trained 60 centers as of March 31, 2012). Feedback from the American College of Cardiology meeting and our March physician survey indicates that once physicians are trained, procedure volumes ramp at a steadily increasing rate. Beyond the facility requirements, CMS removed a potentially arduous component of the proposed NCD related to clinical trial design that could have reduced Edwards' annual EPS by $0.25 (9%-10% of 2012E), by our estimates.” Edwards Lifesciences Corp. closed yesterday at $84.78.