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Analyst initiations 9-4-07: VOLT, PWRD and ASPV

MOST NOTEWORTHY: European banks, Voltaire, Perfect World and Aspreva Pharmaceuticals were today's noteworthy initiations:
  • Morgan Stanley assumed coverage of Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) with an Overweight rating, Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) with an Equal Weight rating and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) with an Underweight rating.
  • Voltaire Ltd (NASDAQ: VOLT) was started with a Buy rating and $29 target at Goldman Sachs, with a Neutral rating at JP Morgan, with an Overweight rating and $12 target at Thomas Weisel and with an Outperform rating and $15 target at RBC Capital. Thomas Weisel said the market gives Voltaire very little credit for its strong position in the rapidly growing Infiniband switch market and RBC Capital believes the stock has impressive growth and gross margin momentum.
  • Perfect World Co Ltd (NASDAQ: PWRD) was initiated with a Positive rating at Susquehanna, as the firm is positive on its growth potential in the online gaming industry in China.
  • Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: ASPV) was initiated with a Sector Perform at RBC Capital, as the firm believes the current valuation is not attractive, and recommends $17 as an attractive entry point. The firm set a target of $22 on the shares.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
  • Drugstore.com Inc (NASDAQ: DSCM) was started with a Market Perform rating at JMP Securities.
  • Wachovia started shares of BladeLogic Inc (NASDAQ: BLOG) with an Outperform rating and $17 target. The stock was also initiated at Morgan Stanley with an Equal Weight rating and at Citigroup with a Hold rating and $27.50 target.
  • Lehman initiated Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc (NYSE: SPR) with an Overweight rating and $43 target.
  • Goldman Sachs started shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc (NYSE: MMC) with a Sell rating and $25 target.

Aspreva drug hits snag

Is Aspreva Pharmaceutical Corporation's (NASDAQ: ASPV) experimental drug CellCept the Next Big Thing in the medical industry? Not so much, as it turns out.

Less than a month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted "fast-track" status for the drug in order to speed up the application and review process, the Canadian drug maker said that CellCept, intended to treat a serious and rare form of lupus, failed to meet its primary endpoint in a late-stage trial. The Phase III clinical trial compared CellCept to intravenous cyclophosphamide, which is the current standard of care for lupus nephritis. 185 patients were tested with each, with the study showing that the response rates were similar in both.

Aspreva, which has a collaboration agreement with Roche Holding Ltd (OTC: RHHBY) for the drug, said that CellCept was not superior to the intravenous cyclophosphamide, its primary goal. The two companies announced they are currently in discussions to assess the drug's future potential, which is looking pretty grim right now.

Well, at least the company didn't put all of their drug-eggs in one lupus nephritis basket. Oh wait -- they did. Analysts believed CellCept would provide Aspreva with a steady revenue stream for the next three to four years, but without it, they believe this could create a selling opportunity.

The company, which develops drugs for patients that suffer from rare diseases that lack a multitude of treatments, saw shares drop 8% this morning.

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 11, 2012: 01:43 AM

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