Rodman & Renshaw has initiated coverage of OpGen (NASDAQ:OPGN) with a “buy” rating and 12-month price target of $2.50. The stock closed at $1.56 on Tuesday.
“In our view, the company’s QuickFISH assays, the latest generation of its fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) platform, are differentiated from competitors in that they utilize the unique peptide nucleic acid technology for whole cell visualization and analysis without cell lysis or target sequence amplification, which allows for a total turnaround time of under 30 minutes,” writes analyst Raghuram Selvaraju.
The FISH test assays, acquired by OpGen through a merger with AdvanDx in July 2015, have received FDA 510(k) approval from 2006 to 2014 and include 15 diagnostic assays.
OpGen also offers CLIA lab-based Acuitas tests focused on multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) and a bioinformatics platform for MDRO management in hospitals.
“In view of the clinical utility of QuickFISH and the substantial market opportunity in the molecular in vitro diagnostics space, we believe that OpGen, currently trading at a $15-million enterprise value, is undervalued,” Mr. Selvaraju added.
