UBS Maintains a 'Neutral' on Vertex (VRTX); Despite Great 3Q, We Still Wait for CF

UBS maintains a 'Neutral' on Vertex (NASDAQ: VRTX) price target lowered from $56 to $47.

UBS analyst says, "Strong launch for Incivek; Our 2011-12e moves higher; 2013-15e lower: Vertex posted impressive first full quarter Incivek sales of $420m, well ahead of consensus and our estimates. Over the next 12 months, we see continued strength in the launch, with our FY12 sales estimate of $2,286m, but tailing off to just $1,761m in 2015 with increasing competition. We believe the cystic fibrosis (CF) program is vital to upside, but we now question the impact of the ongoing CF combo trial."

"CF could be a reason to own VRTX shares longer term: We see CF catalysts as key to stock re-rating. However, we were surprised that the Part-2 of the ongoing ph-1/2 VX-770/809 dosing trial will only examine 4 weeks of dosing in combination at various (not optimized) doses. Therefore this study is not designed to provide proof of concept."

For more ratings news on Vertex click here and for the rating history of Vertex click here.

Shares of Vertex closed at $42.58 yesterday.

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