Shares of Abiomed Inc. (NSDQ:ABMD, which were white-hot for the first six months of 2011 before a precipitous selloff, may have some room to grow again, according to analysts on Wall Street.
This week, the Danvers, Mass.-based cardiac assist device maker snagged an upgrade from investment bank Rodman & Renshaw, which moved the company up to a “market perform” rating from its previously held “market under perform” rating. The bank said the change is “simply a reflection of the stock price move and nothing to do with fundamentals.”
The move comes just a few weeks after Rodman & Renshaw sounded skeptical of Abiomed.
On August 4th analysts at Rodman wrote, “our due diligence checks with physicians suggest that the consensus view is “’for the right patient the Impella works great.’ The operative word here is ‘right.’ Properly identifying the right patient subset whether in high-risk PCI or AMI shock remains problematic. It is unclear how the Impella line of products will become mainstream.”
While the analysts didn’t provide much guidance in terms of a price target for the stock, they still see a lot of room to grow from yesterday’s closing price of $12.52 per share. A consensus of analysts polled by Thompson/FirstCall show a median price target of $18 per share, a 30 percent premium on the company’s share price.
Wall Street was once very bullish on shares of ABMD, which jumped by 93 percent during the first six months of the year, hitting a high water mark of $19.19 per share on May 26. However, they have since retreated dramatically, dropping by nearly 35 percent since, based on yesterday’s closing price.
The low point for ABMD came after the company posted relatively solid top line growth in its second quarter earnings announcement.
For the three month period ended June 30, 2011, ABMD posted $27.3 million in sales, a 23 percent jump from the $22 million the company posted during the same period last year. The sales jump was good enough for the company to pare its losses to $4.4 million, down from $6 million during the same period last year.
However, The Street pummeled ABMD shares on the announcement with a prolonged sell off that brought shares to $10.30 on August 10, its lowest point in more than six months.
Shares of ABMD were once again trading lower through midday trading on Wall Street, down 6 percent to $11.78.
