It appears deals are cooking at Quintiles (NYSE: Q).

Don’t be surprised if the big “Q” gets even bigger – soon.

Wall Street loves Quintiles after its strong earnings report, and the stock price remains more than 10 percent above its May IPO price. Now the Durham-based life science services firm is looking to enhance its growth with more deals.

Chief Financial Officer Kevin Gordon says the world’s largest contract research organization wants to boost profits by through acquisitions.

In an interview with Bloomberg news that was published early Tuesday, Gordon says the company is focused on growth, not paying down more debt. The company set aside some $350 million from its IPO to cut debt. That appears to be the extent of debt reduction for the time being.

Since going public on May 9 with the Triangle’s largest ever IPO of nearly $1 billion, Quintiles has been a Wall Street darling. Shares opened at $43.76 after Quintiles priced them at $40, and they have never dipped below $41.50.

When Quintiles posted a better-than-expected earnings report Aug. 1, shares spiked to $47.50. On Monday, shares closed at $45.58.

Virtually all the analysts following “Q” continue to rate the stock highly, according to Thomson/First Call. Just last Friday, three firms raised their share target price for Quintiles to $49 from $46 (Robert W. Baird), $53 from $51 (Barclays) and $45 from $41 (Jefferies Group).

Three analysts say Q is a “strong buy,” and six rate shares as a “buy.” Four have Quintiles as a “hold.” Only one rates Quintiles as “underperform.”

And on Friday, William Blair launched coverage of Quintiles with an “outperform” rating.

Gordon’s comments in the Bloomberg interview are likely to case more deal talk. 

“We are looking to invest in growth that will add to shareholder value,” Gordon said. “We’re focused on additional acquisitions” that would add value, he explained.

Bloomberg was quizzing Gordon about Quintiles’ $2.05 billion in debt. He said the company had no plans to pay down debt right away with no principal payments due until the third quarter of next year.

With interest rates low and Quintiles delivering 13 percent growth in its first IPO earnings report that beat analysts’ expectations by 4 cents a share, the company apparently is following through on Chief Executive Officer Tom Pike’s comments in an Aug. 1 conference call with analysts. He said Quintiles continued to look for what he called “tactical, tuck-in acquisitions” that would, as WRALTechWire’s Frank Vinluan described them, “enhance Quintiles; existing capabilities or fill a strategic need.” 

Even before the earnings report, Wall Street sensed Quintiles was doing extremely well. In a report on July 15, Moody’s changed its outlook for Quintiles and that debt to “positive.”

The report  noted “Moody’s expectations for very good liquidity.”

“The positive outlook reflects Moody’s expectation for improvement in credit metrics following approximately $350 million of debt repayment with proceeds from the company’s recent initial public equity offering,” the report added.

[QUINTILES ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of Quintiles stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]