Boston Scientific shares bounce on broker upgrades

Shares of Boston Scientific Corp. jumped to their highest price in about a month today after at least two brokerages upgraded the stock.

The shares, up over the last few sessions, advanced 53 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $12.58 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange as the broad market faltered.

Over the past 12 months, stock in the Natick-based medical device company has lost about a third of its value.

Citing attractive valuation, Morgan Stanley analyst Glenn Reicin this morning raised his rating to "overweight" and increased his year-end share price target to $15.

"We think the stock is trading close to a worst-case scenario," he wrote in a research note.

"Simply put, we think the market is discounting additional downside risk to earnings and is not giving the company much credit for recent strategic moves to improve profitability, the potential for additional cost-cutting moves or the possibility of its worldwide stent share holding up better than expected," Reicin said, adding that there could be further restructuring toward the end of the year.

Yesterday, Bank of America analyst Glenn Novarro upgraded his rating to "buy" and held his 12-month share price target at $15.

"We believe that a combination of restructuring, new product flow and valuation supports a more favorable risk/reward profile," he wrote in his Jan. 16 note. (Reuters)