Cantor Fitzgerald Makes An Uber-Bullish Call On Galmed Pharmaceuticals

Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd GLMD earned another bullish analyst this week with a positive rating from Cantor Fitzgerald. The coverage comes with a valuation that implies 459-percent upside.

The Rating

Analyst Elemer Piros initiated coverage of Galmed Pharmaceuticals with an Overweight rating and a $59 price target.

The Thesis

Cantor Fitzgerald estimates a $1.2-billion opportunity in Galmed’s lead indication, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, which affects about 50 million people in the U.S. and European Union.

Importantly, the firm’s path toward market leadership appears relatively clear of competition.

Piros said he expects Galmed’s Aramchol to be one of just three meaningful NASH pivotal programs in development by the end of 2019, alongside Allergan plc AGN’s cenicriviroc and Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc MDGL’s MGL-3196.

“Of the three drugs, we believe Galmed's has the highest likelihood of achieving improvement on NASH resolution without worsening of fibrosis, and improvement in fibrosis score without worsening of NASH,” the analyst said in the initiation note. 

Aramchol recently demonstrated strong safety and efficacy in a Phase 2b study.

Price Action

Galmed shares were rallying 28.34 percent to $13.54 at the time of publication midday Thursday. 

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