CV Sciences a takeover target after patent approval, says Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Pablo Zuanic raised the firm's price target on CV Sciences to $1.70 from 80c and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The stock closed Monday up 3.5c to 68c. The patent approval the company gained last Friday for a CBD-based smokeless tobacco cessation product generates an asset worth at least $82M and makes CV a takeover target, Zuanic tells investors in a research note. The analyst's $1.70 price target values the company's consumer cannabidiol unit at 1.2 times sales. The "depressed nature" of the shares, plus the optionality from the new patent as well as optionality from consumer CBD, makes CV Sciences an attractive takeover target, especially to pharmaceutical companies, contends Zuanic. The analyst sees "significant upside" in the stock despite the 30% run up over the last two days.