Auriga Sees Strong Upside In Illumina

Auriga has a Buy rating and a $75 price target on Illumina Inc. ILMN. In a note sent to investors Auriga writes, "Illumina's (ILMN, Buy) product portfolio should enable it to maintain and even expand its market-leading position. In turn, a number of factors – limited penetration (NGS equipment is only in ~200 research labs), new rich GWAS datasets, and emerging applications (such as cancer genomics) – all point to a broadening commercial opportunity. Furthermore, we believe that the genomics research will be the cornerstone of research in health, disease, nutrition, agriculture, and the environment; we view ILMN as a pure play on that theme. As such, we are introducing 2012 estimates and raising our 12-month price target to $75 (up from $60), reflecting our increased confidence in ILMN's earnings potential. Reiterate Buy." Shares of ILMN lost 13 cents yesterday to close at $62.10, a loss of 0.2%.