In a report released yesterday, Jay Olson from Oppenheimer maintained a Buy rating on Portola Pharma (PTLA), with a price target of $30. The company’s shares closed on Friday at $20.68, close to its 52-week low of $18.18.
Olson noted:
“We met with new CEO Scott Garland and his management team for an update on business dynamics and to understand his vision for the future of PTLA. CEO Garland expects PTLA to become a fully operational, integrated biotech company with multiple products. The portfolio would consist of best-in-class and/or first-in-class drugs with signficant commercial potential similar to Andexxa and possibly cerdulatinib. The immediate priority for management is clearly to focus on Andexxa. Longer term, PTLA believes cerdulatinib could become an important opportunity, and CEO Garland believes the company can become successful in oncology despite a potential lack of synergies with Andexxa in acute care. We remain optimistic about PTLA based on our initial meeting with CEO Garland and maintain our Outperform rating with $30 PT.”
According to TipRanks.com, Olson ‘s ranking currently consits of no stars on a 0-5 ranking scale, with an average return of -11.1% and a 29.3% success rate. Olson covers the Healthcare sector, focusing on stocks such as Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc, Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, and Conatus Pharmaceuticals.
Currently, the analyst consensus on Portola Pharma is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $34.25.
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Based on Portola Pharma’s latest earnings release for the quarter ending September 30, the company reported a quarterly GAAP net loss of $71.3 million. In comparison, last year the company had a GAAP net loss of $82.94 million.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 44 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is positive on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders buying their shares of PTLA in relation to earlier this year.
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Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. engages in the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics in the areas of thrombosis and hematologic disorders, and inflammation. Its FDA-approved medicines include Bevyxxa (betrixaban), the oral, once-daily Factor Xa inhibitor, and Andexxa coagulation factor Xa (recombinant), inactivated-zhzo, the antidote for the Factor Xa inhibitors rivaroxaban and apixaban. The company was founded by Charles J. Homcy and David R. Philips on September 2, 2003 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, CA.
