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Fly News Breaks for March 21, 2019
CNC, ANTM, CVS, CI, UNH, DPLO
Mar 21, 2019 | 07:51 EDT
Raymond James analyst John Ransom upgraded Diplomat Pharmacy (DPLO) to Outperform from Market Perform with an $8 price target. The stock closed yesterday up 14c to $5.86. Following the 56% share decline since the February earnings delay, Diplomat would represent value to a strategic buyer, Ransom tells investor in a research note. The analyst sees a number of potential buyers that would "covet" Diplomat Pharmacy's infusion franchise and could fold its large mail order business into an existing platform, including UnitedHealth (UNH), Cigna (CI), CVS Health (CVS), Anthem (ANTM) and Centene (CNC). Ransom thinks Diplomat's current fundamentals should motivate its board to step up its assessment of strategic options. He believes the company's collection of assets are underappreciated at current valuation levels.