By Carly Forster
Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc shares rose 17.5% in after-hours trading on December 17th after the company announced its antibiotic to treat complicated intra-abdominal infections proved to be successful in a late-stage study. In fact, the antibiotic was just as effective as Merck & Co Inc’s ertapenem.
The antibiotic, called eravacycline, is meant to treat infections caused by gram-negative bacteria, a type of antibiotic-resistant pathogens mostly knows as superbugs. In addition, Tetraphase is seeking to apply for U.S. regulatory approval of the drug by the end of 2015.
If approved, the drug will be in competition with a variety of new superbug-fighting antibiotics, including drugs from Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Actavis Plc and AstraZeneca Plc.
On December 18th, Needham analyst Alan Carr reiterated a Buy rating has raised his price target from $28 to $46 on Tetraphase following the company’s positive results on eravacycline. He noted, “Considering clinical safety and efficacy profile, surveillance data, and IV/oral flexibility, we believe eravacycline will be well-positioned in the Gram-negative space relative to current options, including carbapenems, and other late-stage antibiotics. We assume launch in 2H16.” In addition, “We reiterate our BUY rating and raise our target to $46, based on 25x our $3.68 2020 EPS estimate, discounted 15% annually.”
Carr has made 65 successful ratings out of 96 total recommendations this past year, earning a 68% success rate and a +37.4% average return with no benchmark.
Brean Capital analust Jonathan Aschoff also reiterated a Buy on Tetraphase and set a
$50 price target following the successful results of the drug.
Over the past year, Aschoff has made 75 successful ratings out of 120 total recommendations, earning a 63% success rate and a +12.1% average return per recommendation.
On average, the top analyst consensus for Tetraphase is Strong Buy.
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Carly Forster writes about stock market news. She can be reached at [email protected]
