Piper Jaffray Reports On Stability Of BAX

Piper Jaffray is maintaining its Overweight rating and its $63 price target on Baxter International BAX in light of of the company's recent and continued stability. Says Piper Jaffray, in its report, “Adjusted "apples-to-apples" US IVIG distributions rose again in April, up 14.7% vs. the prior year. This rise comes on the back of the strong month-to-month acceleration seen in March when manufacturers delivered the first 3.5+ tonne monthly shipment since Octapharma withdrew from the market last September. Although we expect Baxter's and Talecris' solid Q1 US IVIG growth (up 18% and 8%, respectively) to moderate slowly as Octapharma re-enters select European markets, we believe the company is still at least a few months away from re-entering the US market after receiving a warning letter from the FDA regarding Good Manufacturing Practices of Octagam at its Stockholm plant on April 15th.” BAX closed at $59.03 yesterday.