Micrus shares up as analyst rates it 'outperform'

Baird analyst starts Micrus as 'outperform,' cites growing sales and upcoming product launches

• On 12:53 pm EDT, Friday September 4, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Micrus Endovascular Corp. rose Friday after an analyst began covering the medical device maker with an "outperform" rating.

Micrus develops and sells products intended to treat vascular problems in the brain. Robert W. Baird and Co. analyst Lawrence Neibor said Micrus is the largest company focused entirely on the neurological market, and its sales are growing much faster than the overall market.

The analyst added that Micrus is taking market share from larger competitor Boston Scientific Corp., making it the second largest neurovascular company, and hopes to enter the Chinese market soon. He said the San Jose, Calif., company will start selling new products over the next two years, including stents, catheters and wires for electronic devices, that will boost its revenue.

Neibor set a price target of $14 per Micrus share, and in afternoon trading the stock was up 26 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $12.19 after touching $12.41 earlier in the session.

Shares of Micrus have traded between $4.13 and $15 over the last year, but the stock last traded at $14 on Oct. 2, 2008.