Align Tech Rises After Danaher Patent Settlement

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Align Technology Inc. jumped Monday after the dental products company settled a patent infringement lawsuit regarding its Invisalign teeth-straightening system.

Align agreed to issue $77 million in stock to Danaher Corp., and pay about $13 million to Danaher's Ormco business. Align and Ormco will also collaborate to make an orthodontic product combining their technologies. In June, a jury found that Invisalign violated a patent held by Danaher.

Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Align rose $1.64, or 16.1 percent, to $11.77 in afternoon trading.

Standard & Poor's Equity Research analyst Phillip Seligman upgraded Align shares "Hold" from "Strong Sell" on the news, and raised his price target to $13 per share from $6. He said the stock would get a lift from the settlement, and added that investors will find Align shares more appealing as they look for a 2010 economic recovery.