Piper Jaffray Reiterates Neutral on Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPDI)

Piper Jaffray is out with a research report this morning, where it reiterates its Neutral rating on Pharmaceutical Product Development PPDI; it has a $28.00 price target on the stock. The PJ analysts cited the company’s most recent earnings report, which was “decent,” though encompassed impressive revenues (up 3% year over year). The analysts noted that the company saw large CROs winning contracts, which strengthened the PJ analysts’ thesis on the name. They noted that operating margin were higher in Q2 by 330 basis points, but were still lower by 420 basis points year over year. They believe that margin improvements are the key the hitting the company’s guidance estimates in the back half of the year.