Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) stormed the stock market on Wednesday. Shares of the up-and-coming biotech rose by more than 11% not on any proprietary news from the company, but on an analyst's initiation of coverage. That performance was more than enough to top the trajectory of the bellwether S 500 index, which rose by slightly over 1% on the day.

Well before market open, J.P. Morgan's Hardik Parikh launched his coverage of Viking Therapeutics. The analyst is quite bullish on the biotech company's future, as he tagged it as an overweight (buy, in other words) with a price target of $80 per share. Even after Wednesday's rally in the stock, that target suggests nearly 32% upside to the present level.

Like many investors, and not a few pundits, Parikh feels that the company could reap something of a windfall if it successfully brings its investigational GLP-1 obesity drug, VK2735, to market. Such treatments are hotly popular in the U.S. these days because of the country's relatively overweight population.

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Source Fool.com