Piper Sandler keeps Overweight rating on Ardelyx after XPHOZAH appeal update

Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond remains Overweight rated on Ardelyx shares, with a price target of $8, after FDA informed the company that the Agency needs "a few more weeks" to finalize its response to the company’s appeal of the XPHOZAH CRL issued last year. Raymond says that while reading FDA tea leaves – especially in territory as uncharted as this – is a difficult game, he still finds himself speculating that if FDA intended to reject the appeal, the Agency would not need more time to do so. He had previously speculated that a middle ground outcome might be to approve XPHOZAH with a combo-only label and he wonders here if that could be the reason for the delay. Either way, the analyst continues to like the risk/reward into the FDA decision, even if it is now delayed by "a few more weeks."