RBC downgrades Abcam, leaves price target unchanged

RBC Capital Markets has downgraded its rating on life sciences firm Abcam, sending the shares lower.

The bank has cut its recommendation to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’, although it has left its price target at 1,500p per share.

As at 1130 GMT, shares in the Aim-listed firm – which specialises in developing identification tools for scientists conducting protein research – were off 3% at 1,469.0p.

RBC said that a number of life science firms that specialise in research tools had recently reported third-quarter numbers. “All report sequential improvement in demand, and many sound more bullish around mid-term research funding uplifts,” it noted.

Yet it opted to downgrade Abcam based on valuation.

The bank said: “We had become more confident at the first-half results that Abcam would accelerate its revenue growth rate, and increased our price target accordingly, based on a probability-weighted scenario analysis.

“Although the funding commentary providers further modest de-risking of the bullish scenario, near-term earnings risks remain, particularly in light of limited guidance on operating investments.

“We are therefore reluctant to become more aggressive yet, and leave our price target at 1,500p a share.”