Company

Bank

Analyst

Coverage

Opinion

Wk chg

9/21 cls

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Jefferies

Jeffrey Holford

Price target

Buy

2%

$69.62

Holford raised his target to $85 from $75 after distinguishing Abbott's pharmaceutical business AbbVie as a separate entity in his model, allowing him to "more precisely hone" his estimates. He values AbbVie at $55 per share, which implies a 2013 dividend of $1.92 per share. He values the remaining Abbott business at $30 per share. Last October, Abbott announced plans to split into two public companies, with AbbVie housing its pharmaceuticals and the remaining Abbott business containing its medical products. The separation is expected to be completed at year end (see BioCentury, Oct. 24, 2011).

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY)

Piper Jaffray

Edward Tenthoff

Downgrade

Neutral (from overweight)

-6%

$19.61

Tenthoff noted the company's valuation is in line with his $20 target. Last week, the Massachusetts Superior Court pushed the trial date to Nov. 14 from Oct. 30 for a suit filed by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. (TSX:TKM; NASDAQ:TKMR) alleging that Alnylam and AlCana Technologies Inc. misused and exploited trade secrets related to Tekmira's lipid nanoparticle short interfering RNA delivery technology (see B8). Tenthoff said he does not have a specific call on the outcome of the suit, but sees "more near-term risk than reward." He does not anticipate that Alnylam will partner its ALN-PCS program for high cholesterol ahead of a settlement since it is based on Tekmira's technology. The small interfering RNA (siRNA) against proprotein convertase subtilisn/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) gene is in Phase I testing.