Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of ViroPharma Incorporated (VPHM) from NEUTRAL to OUTPERFORM on October 23, 2013, with a target price of $46.00.
ViroPharma reported earnings of a penny per share in the second quarter of 2013 compared to a loss of $0.06 per share in the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was $0.02 per share. Quarterly revenues, which increased 9.5% year over year to $103.7 million, were marginally short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $105 million. The year-over-year growth in revenues was fuelled by Cinryze sales in the U.S. and higher product sales in Europe. The growth story for ViroPharma revolves around Cinryze which accounted for more than 75% of total revenues in 2012. Of late, shares of the company surged significantly on buyout rumors. As per news sources, both Sanofi and Shire have shown interest in acquiring ViroPharma given the company's orphan disease drug portfolio. We expect further increase if the buyout rumors gather momentum and hence upgrade our recommendation to Outperform.
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