RBC Capital Markets downgrades Abcam to ‘sector perform’

RBC Capital Markets downgraded Abcam on Tuesday to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’ and cut the price target to $22 from $23 as it recommended investors take profit on bid anticipation.

It noted that the shares are up 40% in the last 10 days, and 65% in the quarter to date.

"It is unclear how advanced the ‘strategic inquiries’ are, and the valuation work in this report implies relatively little further upside on a transaction anyway," RBC said.

"We have always liked Abcam's fundamentals but see activist investor engagement and anticipation of a potential bid as likely to drive material volatility in the shares.

"While our $22 price target informs our downgrade to sector perform, we would take profits here."