JPMorgan raised its price target on Eli Lilly (LLY) to $100 from $85, as the firm believes that the company is “well-positioned for sustained growth” given the firm’s positive outlook on the company’s newer drugs. The note to investors this morning follows a similarly bullish one published by peers at Barclays last week.
NEWER PRODUCT LAUNCHES: The prescription trends of Eli Lilly’s newer drugs – Jardiance, Taltz, Trulicity, and Basaglar – continue to exceed JPMorgan’s expectations, wrote Chris Schott, an analyst at the firm. Given these positive trends, Schott has an “upward bias” to this estimates for the company going forward. Eli Lilly’s newer products should enable its earnings per share to increase 11.7% annually through 2022, Schott wrote. Estimating that the company’s recently launched and upcoming products should generate $15.7B in sales by 2022, the analyst expects the company’s revenue to rise about 5% annually through 2022. Schott kept an Overweight rating on Eli Lilly and continues to identify it as his top pick.
ANOTHER BULLISH CALL: On April 7, Barclays analyst Geoff Meacham raised his price target on Eli Lilly to $90 from $85, stating that the drug maker’s growth is poised to be boosted by volume increases, rather than price hikes. A number of the company’s “key new products” showed strong prescription growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 and in the first quarter of this year, Meacham reported. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly has a number of upcoming positive catalysts, including the expected approval of its baricitinib drug for rheumatoid arthritis later this month, the analyst believes. After speaking with rheumatologists, Meacham is upbeat on baricitinib’s outlook, and he believes that the company’s overall results can beat expectations. Meacham also kept an Overweight rating on the stock.
PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, Eli Lilly rose 0.5% to $85.89 per share. Over the last three months the pharma giant’s shares have advanced about 14%.
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