Align Technology Surges 5% Amid Credit Suisse Upgrade

Credit Suisse upgraded Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) from Neutral to Outperform with a $58 price target.

Analyst Glen Santangelo noted that "following significant outperformance in 2013, shares of ALGN have lagged the broader market YTD (down ~20 percent vs. S&P up ~3 percent). Our work on ALGN's evolving market opportunity and our proprietary survey makes us increasingly comfortable with the long-term outlook ALGN."

According to Santangelo, "Valuation is the most often cited pushback when discussing ALGN, and admittedly has been the foundation of our historical Neutral stance on the shares. Although we have admittedly often made the mistake of focusing on the near term earnings outlook (and its inherent volatility), we believe that the still-nascent growth nature of the ALGN thesis warrants a longer lensed analysis."

The report raised the "F14, F15 and F16 EPS estimates to $1.78, $2.15, and $2.49 from $1.77, $2.08 and $2.43, respectively. Our $58 TP implies shares can trade at roughly 24x our F15 EPS estimate plus credit for ~$6 cash per share."

Align Technology, Inc. recently traded at $47.56, up 4.8 percent.