UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Downgrades ICU Medical to Neutral, Raises PT Following Q2 Revenues/Earnings Report

In a report published Friday, Piper Jaffray analyst Thomas J. Gunderson downgraded the rating on

from Overweight to Neutral, but raised the price target from $70.00 to $71.00. In the report, Piper Jaffray noted, “ICUI reported lower than expected revenues and earnings for Q2. The company reported $78.7M (up 1.8% from $77.3M in 2Q12) as compared to our $83.7M, consensus $83.4M, and guidance of $82.0-$84.5M. EPS of $0.48 was well below our $0.67 estimate (consensus was $0.66; guidance was $0.62-$0.67). The main contributor to the miss appeared to be delays in closing orders for products in the Critical Care division. Guidance for the year was lowered by more than the miss and back-end-loaded. We are reducing our rating to a Neutral based on the fundamental valuation having reached our price target, but acknowledge that the stock is likely to trade more on buy-out speculation than quarterly performance.” ICU Medical closed on Thursday at $74.59.