UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Initiates Quintiles Transnational at Neutral on Valuation

In a report published Tuesday, Goldman Sachs analyst Robert P. Jones initiated coverage on Quintiles Transnational Q with a Neutral rating and $44.00 price target.

In the report, Goldman Sachs noted, “We initiate coverage of Quintiles Transnational Holdings (Q) with a Neutral rating and 12-month $44 price target. We believe Quintiles' global scale and scientific expertise position the company well to take advantage of key Biopharma trends including (1) continued focus on advancing late-stage molecules; (2) deeper strategic outsourcing relationships; and (3) increasingly more complex pipelines. Additionally, we find Quintiles' stable financial profile attractive, especially relative to more volatile peers. That said, we believe valuation is appropriate with shares trading at 19.4X 2014 EPS, against our 2013E-2015E EPS CAGR of 16%.”

Quintiles Transnational closed on Monday at $43.53.