UPDATE: Citigroup Reduces PT to $55 on Life Technologies on Updated 2012 EPS

Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating on Life Technologies

and reduced its price target from $56 to $55 on spending environment uncertainty. Citigroup commented, "The Academic/Gov't spending environment will be top of mind for 2Q considering performance in 2Q11 though management commented last quarter that they did not expect any notable downturns during 2012. We also expect updated sales data on the Ion PGM as well as the status of launch plans/data release for the Ion Proton. Investors will also continue to be focused on operating margin expansion where management expects 50-100bps of improvement in 2012 with about 50bps of gross margin expansion." Life Technologies closed at $43.34 on Friday.