Editor's note: A previous version of this article contained incorrect information about the history of Savara's stock. The company went public about a year ago and the stock is up about 95% over the past year.
What happened
In response to favorable analyst coverage, shares of Savara (SVRA 1.41%), a clinical-stage biotech focused on rare lung diseases, soared 23% as of 12:10 p.m. EDT on Friday.
So what
Savara's investors can thank Evercore ISI analyst Joshua Schimmer for today's big jump. Schimmer initiated coverage on Savara today and gave the stock an outperform rating. He also slapped a $40 price target on the company's stock. For context, Savara closed yesterday's trading session at $9.42 per share.
Given the bullish vote of confidence and huge implied upside, it isn't hard to figure out why traders are bidding up shares today.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
Savara shared a clinical update with investors a few days ago that was very upbeat. The company stated that two patients who have a specific bacterial infection associated with cystic fibrosis used its inhalable granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and showed meaningful clinical improvement. In fact, a pulmonologist from the Mayo Clinic even went so far as to call the results "remarkable" and noted that the two patients showed "meaningful improvements in weight gain and lung function."
Savara is currently enrolling patients in a phase 2 study and expects to have topline results in the first half of 2019.
Overall, the vote of confidence from Wall Street and upbeat clinical results make Savara an intriguing clinical-stage biotech to watch.
