UPDATE: Ladenburg Thalmann Maintains Buy Rating, Raises PT for BioDelivery Sciences International

In a company update published earlier today, Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services maintained its Buy rating for BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI) and slightly raised its price target from $5.00 to $5.50.

Ladenburg Thalmann said in its report “BDSI reported EPS of $0.69 for 1Q 2012. Expenses of $7.95 million were $1.8 million higher than our estimate (R&D expenses were $1.2 million higher than our estimate and SG&A expenses were $0.2 million higher than our estimates). Revenues of $30 million were in-line with our estimate. We expect BDSI to have operating expenses between $9 and $12 million per quarter for the remainder of 2012. As of March 31, 2012 BDSI had $32.1 million in cash. Following the end of the quarter BDSI received a $15 million milestone payment from Endo Pharmaceuticals for the issuance of BEMA buprenorphine patent. We believe BDSI's current cash position is sufficient to generate pivotal BNX bioequivalence data and pivotal BEMA buprenorphine data.”

BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. closed yesterday at $4.12.