Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Bluebird indicated $132.70-$142.10 pre-market vs $131.70 close after Evercore analyst Josh Schimmer upgraded to outperform from in-line, PT $152 from $102, seeing a favorable setup heading into ASH meeting in December, and following through to European Hematology Association (EHA) next year in June.

• Says BLUE shares have enough value drivers to fuel outperformance with a steady flow of incrementally positive news
• Believes BLUE is now on the right track for a strong clinical profile to emerge at ASH and over the following 12 months
• Optimistic that the latest round of enhancements will show that the LentiGlobin profile is on a compelling trajectory for sickle cell disease; says while ASH may not be the pinnacle of the drug’s potential, it will be further improved by addition of Mozobil stem cell mobilization next year
• Separately, downgrades BOLD to inline from outperform, PT $29 from $23, saying shares are near fully-valued to reflect success in its gene therapy in X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM) and Crigler Najjar (CNJ)
  • Says while optimistic that BOLD is on the cusp of generating exciting data in these two rare diseases, their incidence and low prevalence warrants caution on prospects for meaningful upside from current share price
  • Sees room for significant downside should initial data readouts disappoint or achieve only modest efficacy
• BLUE rose 113% this year while Nasdaq Biotech Index rose 28%
• BOLD up ~57% since Evercore initiated coverage on August 16

To contact the reporter on this story: Tatiana Darie in New York at tdarie1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net Steven Fromm