Piper Sees Pfizer Investor Sentiment Improving Meaningfully

Piper Jaffray analyst Richard Purkiss points out that his 2019 revenue forecast for Pfizer (PFE) continues to be $4B above the current consensus. Analysts are being overly conservative regarding growth expectations for several of Pfizer’s key brands, mainly Ibrance and Lyrica, as well as overly aggressive in erosion expectations for the company’s mature drug portfolio, Purkiss tells investors in a research note.

He expects expect sentiment towards the stock to “improve meaningfully” as “investors wake up” to the sales turnaround from 2015. He expects this shift, along with the likely closure of the Allergan (AGN) deal in the second half of 2016, to begin to close Pfizer’s 45% discount to his $54 price target. The analyst has an Overweight rating on the name. Pfizer closed yesterday down 19c to $29.62.