Bank of America Reiterates Buy, $90 PO on WellPoint Post Acquisition

Bank of America reiterates its coverage on WellPoint

with a Buy rating and a price objective of $90 a share. Bank of America says, "According to the Wall Street Journal, WLP plans to acquire contact-lens and eyewear retailer 1-800 Contacts for $900m. …From a strategic perspective, the acquisition appears to be targeted towards capitalizing on the accelerating trend towards individuals making their own health-care purchasing decisions, particularly if Health Care Reform goes through. However, the transaction is somewhat outside of the realm of what we have seen from Wellpoint in recent years, so we will look to get more color if this is the beginning of a true diversification strategy or a one-off transaction." WLP closed at $66.36 on Friday.