UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Raises IPC The Hospitalist's PT

According to a research report published Thursday, Piper Jaffray has increased its PT for IPC The Hospitalist IPCM from $42 to $48. In the report, Piper Jaffray said, "IPCM announced two acquisitions and one new market expansion. Combined, the two acquisitions have ~28,000 annualized patient encounters, while IPCM's new entry into New Mexico, which is an exclusive arrangement, has ~18,000 encounters. We are increasing our estimates slightly to account for the acquisitions and the exclusive deal in New Mexico. While IPCM's gross margin for FY12 will likely be ~27% due to hospital stipends and nursing home directorships, we believe the other issues that plagued IPCM for most of last year have been resolved. As such, we reiterate our Overweight rating and raise our PT to $48 based on 20x our revised FY13E EPS." IPC The Hospitalist closed Thursday at $44.48.