Benzinga | Apr 9, 2021 03:27PM EDT

BofA Remains Bullish On Clover Health With Improving Visibility Into Growth

Clover Health Investments Corp (NASDAQ:CLOV) has been chosen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) to participate in Direct Contracting (DC) across 10 states.

While the news is not surprising, the program's official launch is positive for the company, according to BofA Securities.

The Clover Health Investments Analyst: Kevin Fischbeck maintained a Buy rating for Clover Health Investments, with the price target unchanged at $15.

The Clover Health Investments Thesis: Clover's participation in 10 states implies that "the model is resonating with physicians across the country and adds some credibility to their forecasts," Fischbeck said in the note.

Although the CMS program is in early stages and there is no hard data on membership, the company is "uniquely positioned to capitalize on the Direct Contract opportunity given the scalability of Clover assistant and its proven track record of managing open networks through its PPO plans," the analyst wrote.

"We are particularly encouraged by the fact that CLOV is operating Direct Contracting in 4 new states where it doesn't have MA membership, a bullish sign that doctors are willing to do DC without a prior relationship with CLOV, and a fact which should help CLOV expand MA plans into these states over time," he added.

CLOV Price Action: Shares of Clover Health Investments had declined by 4.86% to $8.42 at the time of publication Friday.

(Photo: Hans Eiskonen via Unsplash)