Diasorin snaps with Morgan Stanley promotion and target price hike

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milan, Aug 26 - In a session of declines for Piazza Affari, Diasorin stands out on the positive side and marches to the top of the main list, at levels seen at the end of July. Kicking off the shares of the molecular diagnostics laboratory and immunodiagnostics group is the promotion by Morgan Stanley, which has revised its recommendation upwards to overweight from equal weight with a target price increased from EUR 100 to EUR 101, about 15 per cent above current values.

Analysts are positive on the sector in general, seeing 'attractive medium-term prospects for diagnostics, which remains one of the most defensive end markets within the MedTech sector, thanks to product cycles that are expected to maintain momentum through year-end'. The sector's fundamentals, Morgan Stanley explains, 'remain robust and growing' and 'valuation multiples will remain elevated', despite macroeconomic pressures, which caused a slowdown in diagnostics market growth in the second quarter.

In this context, Diasorin stands out positively, with analysts convinced that we will see an acceleration in growth in 2026. This makes the stock attractive and "the risk/reward increasingly attractive", explain the experts at Morgan Stanley, according to whom "the approximately 20 per cent drop in Diasorin's valuation since the beginning of the year represents a rare opportunity to acquire a key European diagnostic asset with attractive and sustainable growth drivers over the medium term". The reference is, in particular, to Diasorin's portfolio of specialised immunoassays and the expected launch of new molecular products that, in the company's intentions, will contribute to sales growth in 2026. "Our forecast is for 2026 organic sales growth of 8 per cent, about 100 basis points above consensus," the analysts explain.