UPDATE: UBS Investment Research Upgrades Cepheid to Buy; Opportunistic Inflection

UBS Investment Research raises its rating on Cepheid CPHD from Neutral to Buy and lifts its price target from $44 to $45. UBS Investment Research says, "We are upgrading CPHD to Buy from Neutral, as a ~16% decline in shares since 3/26 (vs. ~5% for the S&P) has yielded an attractive buying opportunity, in our view. Overall business momentum appears solid, new product launches represent catalysts in 2H, and we view the company's profile (no exposure to NIH budgeting, relatively low sensitivity to EU macro issues) as favorable. While shares remain at a premium (EV/ '12 sales of 6.8x vs. 3.8x for CPHD's diagnostics peers), we believe valuation is backed by a robust growth forecast & M&A potential." CPHD closed at $37.24 on Monday.