Piper Jaffray Reiterates Underweight on Solazyme on Dissolution of Roquette JV Foreshadowing Other Commercialization Struggles

In a report published on Monday, Piper Jaffray analyst Mike J. Ritzenthaler reiterated an Underweight rating and a price target of $5 on Solazyme, SZYM. In the report, Piper Jaffray stated, "The history of the Industrial Biotechnology space is littered with major strategic partners pulling out of agreements that struggled during commercialization – when promise doesn't match up with reality. Now we can add Roquette to that list, even after Solazyme's most important partner in nutritional markets spent meaningfully to develop a sophisticated view on the commercial potential. We can presume that if profitability was as near at hand as Solazyme's management team would have us believe, Roquette's hat would still be in the ring." Solazyme closed on Friday at $12.62.