UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Initiates Emergent BioSolutions with Overweight, $21 PT on Post-BioThrax Potential

Piper Jaffray initiates its coverage on Emergent BioSolutions

with an Overweight rating and a price target of $21. Piper Jaffray comments, "We believe Emergent is on the cusp of a profound change in its profile, evolving from a purely biodefense story to a diversified biotech company with a pipeline to support long term growth. We believe the return of SBI-087's rights to Emergent by Pfizer creates an ideal entry point for investors prior to what we believe will be a catalyst-rich 2H12. We believe Phase I/II data for TRU-016 in NHL and CLL, Phase IIb data for MVA85A (TB vaccine booster) and potential receipt of an eight year $200-300mn pandemic flu vaccine contract could provide upside to our estimates." EBS closed at $13.97 on Friday.