UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Downgrades Biogen Idec to Neutral on Valuation

Piper Jaffray reduced its rating on Biogen Idec

from Overweight to Neutral and lowered its price target from $175 to $166. Piper Jaffray commented, "We are downgrading BIIB to Neutral from Overweight based on valuation as we believe expectations are high for the upcoming BG-12 launch and fairly reflected in shares given its premium P/E multiple (21x 2013) versus the large cap group average (16x). We believe this level of premium will be difficult to maintain unless Phase III dexpramipexole ALS data (early 2013) supports regulatory approval. As a result, we are reducing our price target to $166 from $175 as we assume a lower multiple (18x vs. 19x previously) on our 2014 EPS estimates." Biogen Idec closed at $150.00 on Wednesday.