UPDATE: Wedbush Securities Upgrades Alere to Outperform

Wedbush Securities has published a research report on Alere ALR upgrading the stock from Neutral to Outperform after the company's latest 8-K showed FDA progress. In the report, Wedbush writes, "Shares of ALR are off 18% on the last two weeks versus a 3% decline in both the S&P 500 and BTK index. ALR remains a very complicated story, but the bar appears low for positive FDA developments, flu activity, DM stabilization, and other catalysts. Our $23 price target still assumes zero DM value and a 2.3x EV/sales multiple on the professional dx and 2x EV/sales multiple on toxicology sales. Our price target also assumes a 2012E P/E multiple of ~10x and FCF yield of ~4.7%. ALR trades at a discount to the group on a 2012E P/E multiple basis (8x vs. 18x) and EV/sales basis (1.4x vs. 3.4x), while ALR is on track to post a 2012E levered FCF yield of ~5.2%, a discount to the peer group median of ~4.6%." Wedbush Securities maintains its $23 price target on Alere, which is currently trading up $0.18 from yesterday's $18.32 closing price.