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Biotech / Medical : QLT PhotoTherapeutics (QLTI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scripts who wrote (1222)	7/13/2001 5:47:23 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1321

July 13, 2001 QLT Up 11%; Market Optimistic For 2Q, Analyst Says By ANDY GEORGIADES Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES TORONTO -- The market sees a good quarter ahead for QLT Inc. (QLTI), and showed its support for the stock by pushing it well above the C$30 threshold Friday, an analyst said. "The stock's been trading at a very strong support level, so it looks like there's not a lot of downside left to this," Brian Bapty, analyst at Raymond James, told Dow Jones. In Toronto trading, QLT is up C$3.35 to C$33.70 on about 326,000 shares. Bapty noted that disappointing top-line sales results from a couple of top U.S. biotechs, as we enter earnings season, weren't enough to hurt QLT. "I think people have recognized that this is a disappointment QLT had six months ago, and that's not likely to happen again," he said. QLT's lead product is Visudyne, a photodynamic therapy. It's the only approved treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration, which causes blindness. In December, the company warned of a slight shortfall in Visudyne sales, but redeemed itself in April with better-than-expected first-quarter results. The company reports its second-quarter earnings on July 25, and Bapty said the market is ready for some good news from a stock he called oversold. "There's a better-than-average chance it will have a good quarter, or at least in line," he said, adding he sees Visudyne sales of C$83.1 million. Just last week, the analyst upgraded the stock to a "strong buy" from "buy," despite the company's often- criticized lack of a product pipeline. But his analysis showed that the stock price found a support level based on one revenue stream - Visudyne - and that's not something investors should ignore, he said. QLT is a company that has a strong cash position and a great-looking revenue stream, which means it doesn't have to look for financing, he said. "In a bad market, it can probably go out and buy pipeline. And this is a bad market," he added. Company Web Site: qltinc.com