M&A Target??

Molecular diagnostic device maker was a mover today on low volume with an analyst initiation at outperform.The stock is near its recent 52 week high of $27.79. Cepheid is an emerging growth leader in molecular diagnostics with its GeneXpert platform that performs diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, genetics, cancer and women’s health.Q4 revenues in 2010 came in at $58.7M and a 2011 estimate of $300M+. With a market cap of $1.58B at today’s price the valuation of 4.74 Price to Sales is not expensive given the importance of the molecular diagnostic market.

Another emerging diagnostic growth player in the “mid -cap” sector  Genprobe (GPRO) is in our model portfolio. Many other growth players in tools and diagnostics are on arrays and sequencing platforms such as Illumina (ILMN) and PacBio (PACB). We will review our short list of potential acquisition candidates in” pure play” molecular diagnostic players given the recent chatter. Recently Qiagen (QGEN $19.41) indicated it was focused on potential acquisitions in molecular diagnostics.

Here is our last update:

Raygent » Rayno Life Science Portfolio: Dx and Tools Update: Caution

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