Leerink Initiates Coverage Of Healthequity, Sees Upside Potential Amid Rising Healthcare Costs

In a report issued Friday, Leerink Partners LLC initiated coverage on Healthequity Inc HQY at Outperform with a $28.00 price target.

Analyst Steven Wardell wrote in a note to clients, "We anticipate that the 2015 benefits season, which Healthequity will report on in its F4Q14 results, will be a year for employers shifting healthcare benefit costs onto employees, directly benefiting Healthequity and helping the company meet our growth expectations [...] Healthequity is at the center of a mega-trend in healthcare."

Healthequity is a leading provider of Consumer Directed Health Plans. A survey recently conducted by the National Business Group on Health found that 32 percent of employers will offer these plans to their employees in 2015, a 10 percent jump from last year that will directly benefit Healthequity Inc.

Related Link: Employers Expect Changes To Employee Healthcare Programs To Retain Competitiveness

Industry experts believe that rising healthcare costs will drive employers to shift healthcare benefit costs onto employees. Healthequity benefits from this trend and from an opportunity that enables employees to keep the tax advantage of employer-sponsored health benefits while controlling the funds themselves.

Shares of Healthequity traded recently at $22.30, up 0.80 percent.