BMO Capital Markets upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform and raised its price target to $130 from $82 on Thursday, arguing that the pharma giant is well positioned to face the upcoming patent cliff for its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.
The anti-PD-1 therapy, which has generated $28.5B in sales for Merck in 2024, making up more than 45% of its topline, is losing its U.S. market exclusivity in 2028, an event BMO’s Evan Seigerman identified as “the largest BioPharma LOE event.”
However, the Rahway, New Jersey-based company is “clearly and confidently assembling a portfolio” to offset the impact, Seigerman said, predicting commercial outperformance from its products such as Enflonsia, Reblozyl, and Welireg.
Additionally, with investor sentiment improving after Merck (MRK) beat Street forecasts for its human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil in Q3, “we see MRK shares pushing higher throughout 2026 with better-than-peers upside,” the analyst added.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.