On Friday, JMP Securities reiterated their Market Outperform rating and $74 price target for Align Technology (NASDAQ:ALGN).
In a morning note issued on April 4th, the firm noted:
Yesterday after the close, Align Technology announced that it received notice that the International Trade Commission (ITC) affirmed the Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) Initial Determination that the ClearCorrect entities (ClearCorrect Operating based in Texas and ClearCorrect based in Pakistan) infringed five of the patents asserted by Align in its ITC investigation. The Commission ruled in Align’s favor with regard to those patents, issued cease-and-desist orders directed to the ClearCorrect entities, and terminated the investigation. As a result, ClearCorrect can no longer use Align’s patented process to generate infringing digital data or import that data from Pakistan to print molds used to make aligners in the U.S. In our view, this is a significant positive for the stock as the company is able to keep its most direct competition at bay and sustain its IP protection. We continue to recommend building a position in ALGN shares, given the introduction of new products (e.g., SmartTrack, Realine), its expanding global distribution, strong consumer demand, and an underpenetrated market. Our $74 price target is predicated on 35x our 2015 EPS estimate of $2.12.
In a down market day, the company closed up 2.95% to $55.14.
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