UPDATE: Bank of America Reiterates on Actavis on Possible Forest Acquisition

In a report published Wednesday, Bank of America analyst Gregg Gilbert reiterated a Buy rating on Actavis ACT, and raised the price target from $200.00 to $235.00. In the report, Bank of America noted, “We updated our model to reflect ACT's proposed acquisition of Forest (both boards support the transaction). Based on this change, we are raising our DCF-based price objective from $200 to $235 and reiterating our Buy rating on ACT. As we noted, we have long been fans of the concept of a Specialty Pharma business model that has diversity of business mix (brands/generics/biosimilars) and geography, a thoughtful and targeted R&D strategy (more ‘D' than ‘R'), and the potential for additional business development. "Therefore, this combination, which is expected to also benefit from meaningful cost and tax synergies, is appealing to us. The integration and operation of this larger and more complex entity will not be without challenges, but we have a great deal of respect for ACT management's ability to deliver, and believe the addition of Forest CEO Brent Saunders would be a plus.” Actavis closed on Tuesday at $201.47.