Aridis Pharmaceuticals (ARDS) Highlighted at Cantor Fitzgerald on Coronavirus Opportunity

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Louise Chen reiterated an Overweight rating and $25.00 price target on Aridis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARDS) citing the coronavirus opportunity.

The analyst highlighted:

• Recent/ongoing headlines around the new coronavirus strain has spurred growing interest in anti-infective companies that are well-placed to and potentially capable of addressing these types of situations, based on our talks with investors. Within our coverage, we see meaningful opportunities for companies that 1) are pursuing innovative approaches against infectious diseases and 2) can leverage platform technologies for rapid targeting of viruses of interest. We highlight ARDS as a company that meets both of these criteria, a fact which remains underappreciated by investors, in our view.
• ARDS's APEX platform technology enables rapid screening of antibody secreting cells, enabling discovery of potent antibody against targets such as viruses (within 1 day of a pandemic outbreak, such as flu). ARDS has also noted that APEX's CRISPR enabled production cell line technology enables rapid manufacturing of multiple mAb therapeutics at ~half the manufacturing cycle time than current available manufacturing technologies. We think that the technology suite can help facilitate the rapid discovery and production of critical therapies for biopharmaceutical companies in emergency situations. We expect ARDS to announce APEX collaborations in the infectious diseases area this year.
• ARDS's next catalyst is the completion of enrollment/patient follow up of Phase 1 of the Phase 1/2a trial for AR-501/Gallium Citrate (CF) in 1Q20. For more of our thoughts on the stock, see our 4Q19 preview/2020 outlook here.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Aridis Pharmaceuticals click here. For more ratings news on Aridis Pharmaceuticals click here.

Shares of Aridis Pharmaceuticals closed at $7.61 yesterday.

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