UPDATE: BMO Capital Markets Reiterates Gilead Sciences at Outperform on Positive ELECTRON Data Results

In a report published Tuesday, BMO Capital Markets reiterated Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD at Outperform on positive ELECTRON data results, and maintained its price target of $89. BMO Capital Markets noted, "ELECTRON data for the 3-drug all-oral regimen of sofosbuvir + GS-5885 +rbv appear robust with SVR4 of 100% across a fairly representative group of patients with HCV GT1 and importantly in patients with tougher to treat IL28B polymorphisms and across GT1a and GT1b patients. Absence of data in patients with cirrhosis represent one limitation of the ELECTRON data but should be addressed with target enrollment of 20% cirrhotics in phase 3. Based on precedent data from a similar combination of sofosbuvir with BMY's NS5A inhibitor daclatasvir we expect GILD to succeed with a once daily fixed-dose combination of sofosbuvir + GS-5885 without ribavirin and to establish a high barrier to entry. [Our] $89 price target is based on 20x our 2013E EPS of $4.44, discounted 25%, and rate Gilead stock Outperform." Gilead Sciences closed at $72.69 on Tuesday.