Wedbush Downgrades Cerus (CERS) to Neutral

Wedbush downgraded Cerus (NASDAQ: CERS) from Outperform to Neutral with a price target of $6.50.

Analyst Zarak Khurshid commented, "We are downgrading shares of CERS from OUTPERFORM to NEUTRAL on valuation following strong outperformance in shares. CERS stock is up 25% in the last six months versus ~1% and ~8% declines in the S&P 500 and BTK indices, respectively, over the same time frame. We believe shares are up strongly versus the benchmarks due to improving sentiment following recent US contracting momentum."

He added, "Although difficult to quantify, we believe investors may already be pricing in potential announcement of an American Red Cross (ARC) contract. We think the company continues to engage in constructive dialogue with the ARC and the recent OneBlood contract may accelerate ARC's decision for competitive reasons. That said, we still know little about the potential scope, timing or precedents, which makes modeling the impact on CERS's business challenging. We believe master agreement could be inked near term, but fear that negotiations and phase-in within the ~30 ARC blood service regions could ultimately be slower than expected."

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

Shares of Cerus closed at $6.59 yesterday.

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