Goldman Sachs Downgrades Cepheid On Outperformance

Goldman Sachs is downgrading shares of Cepheid CPHD to Neutral on outperformance. It has a $35 price target on shares. In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs writes, "We are downgrading Cepheid (CPHD) shares to Neutral from Buy following the stock's outperformance vs. the peer group and less attractive risk/reward at current levels. The stock has risen 40.1% since we added it to the Americas Buy List on 2/23/11 (versus 2.3% for the S&P 500 and 5.2% for the Russell 2000) and 129.8% over the past 12 months (versus 30.8% for the S&P 500 and 40.5% for the Russell 2000). We believe this strength has been driven by solid 1Q results, new product launches and pipeline development, a new distribution agreement with LABSCO and increased in M&A activity in the group." Shares of CPHD closed at $35.50 yesterday.