Piper Sandler analyst Steven Mah upgraded Illumina to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $415, up from $340. After speaking with management from Illumina and Grail, the analyst is more confident in the extent of the clinical data of the Grail portfolio. Concerns that Illumina will compete with its customers in the oncology space are overblown, Mah tells investors in a research note. Illumina is well positioned as the leader in next generation sequencing, and it can maintain and grow its position by continuing to lower sequencing costs and taking advantage of data science advances to improve short-read performance, says the analyst. Further, Mah sees Illumina’s core business COVID-19 headwinds easing with two approved vaccines.
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