CRT Raises Price Target On Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 'Well Positioned For Growth'

CRT Capital raised its price target on Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX from $170 to $180 and maintained a Buy rating.

Analyst Tim Chiang noted that the company is “well positioned for growth in the specialty pharma industry, focused in the areas of dermatology and eye care in the US, with a diversified base of revenues expected to grow by 10-12 percent and EPS growth of ~21-25 percent in 2015.”

Chiang believed “the 2015 guidance call reaffirmed the strong fundamentals, along with the potential for more tuck in M&A deals which could generate upside."

“On the call, management highlighted that its target list of potential M&A candidates (mostly private) remains large, with potential areas of interest in the eye care/derm/dental/surgical segments. On a geographic level, Valeant is not just interested in US assets, and may have an affinity to be more active in Asia/Pacific region in 2015,” according to the analyst note.

The $180 price target was based on a 17.6x multiple on the firm’s 2015 EPS forecast of $10.22, which was raised from $9.94.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals recently traded at $154.52, up 0.3 percent.