FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - An optimistic analyst study on a blood cancer drug euphorized Morphosys investors on Friday. After several trading days of price consolidation, the biotech company's shares shot up eleven percent to 28.70 euros. This made them the clear front-runners in the small cap index SDax.

They temporarily extended their winning streak since the beginning of April to 111 percent and are now approaching the 30 euro mark, the highest level since January 2022. For the current year, the share price is up 117 percent. However, since their interim high at the beginning of 2020 of around 146 euros, the shares had lost more than 90 percent of their value by the end of 2022.

The US bank JPMorgan had upgraded the Morphosys shares in a study presented on Friday by two steps from "Underweight" to "Overweight" and even tripled the price target to 36 euros. Analyst James Gordon directs his optimism to the preparation Pelabresib against a difficult-to-treat form of blood cancer, for which Phase III study data are expected by the end of the year.

It is more likely that the trial will be a success than a fiasco, the expert believes. But even with a calculated 50/50 chance, there is still plenty of upside potential for the stock with his new price target. Gordon grants Pelabresib blockbuster status, which corresponds to peak annual sales of at least one billion U.S. dollars.

The analyst based his previously negative investment vote on sales problems with the blood cancer drug Monjuvi, with corresponding risks to consensus forecasts. However, Gordon said he now sees these risks as exhausted. He left his estimates for Morphosys' 2023 and 2024 earnings unchanged./edh/tav/mis