Canaccord Genuity raised its price target for OraSure Technologies (NASDAQ:OSUR) to $18 from $15 after the company entered a four-year, up to $20-million agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which will effectively subsidize the cost of the HIV self test.
Shares of OraSure were quoted at $17.61, up $1.89, or 12%, at midday on June 27.
“We believe that OraSure’s HIV-self test can add millions of revenue to our model in the out years at a level that can meet or exceed its goal of 20% operating income,” writes analyst Mark Massaro.
He said the company major growth drivers include hepatitis, molecular collections and the HIV self-test, the latter of which “we believe is the most underappreciated and least well understood. However, we are growing to appreciate it.”
Mr. Massaro said there are 50 countries interested in adopting the HIV self-test. “We see OraSure’s OraQuick HIV self-test as the best positioned, affordable, oral fluid rapid test available, given its ease-of-use and exceptional quality,”.
