Thursday, September 14, 2006

Calls of Note Part 3

- Jefferies is defending Neurometrix (NASDAQ:NURO) saying the stock weakness and market chatter absurd. Firm notes they would be aggressive buyers of the stock at current levels. They believe that recent chatter surrounding possible indictments and negative NC-stat data are unfounded, and that there is significant upside to 3Q estimates. NURO remains the highest quality small cap diagnostic company in firm's universe.

The stock traded down ~13% yesterday based on chatter that 1) NURO may be the subject of federal indictments and 2) that negative NC-stat data may be published in the near-term. Firm's channel checks indicate that the company is not the subject of any indictments, and they note that indictments are highly unlikely without the involvement of the DOJ and/or FBI (at this point there is merely an informal OIG inquiry and it is highly unlikely indictments could come about without a formal investigation). Furthermore, they do not expect the release of any negative NC-stat data, and note that there are ~37 positive publications on clinical data showing that the NC-stat is 95% equivalent to conventional neurological testing (including a recently published article in Diabetes Care).

Reits Buy and $41 tgt.

Notablecalls: Note that Jeffco was out on NURO just before the close, likely causing the 1 pt bounce. I do expect to see other firms come out in defense of NURO today. One to watch.

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