Novartis: shares trail SMI index after downgrade.
(CercleFinance.com) - Shares in Novartis fell to the bottom of the SMI index in morning trade on Tuesday after Liberum downgraded the stock from "buy" to "hold" and cut its target price from 93 Swiss francs to 90 Swiss francs.
In a note sent to clients, Liberum says the Basel-based biopharmaceutical firm's attractive outlook is "now reflected in valuation."
The British brokerage firm points out that Novartis was the least loved stock in the sector when it initiated its coverage with a "buy" rating in March.
"It is up 12% since then making it the best performer in the sector (outperforming Roche by 17% and the sector by 5%)," it writes in the report.
While Liberum continues to expect Novartis to outperform its peers and views the stock's risk profile as attractive, the shares have few near-term catalysts, it says.
The shares are currently trading 1% down at 83.30 Swiss francs.
Copyright (c) 2017 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
In a note sent to clients, Liberum says the Basel-based biopharmaceutical firm's attractive outlook is "now reflected in valuation."
The British brokerage firm points out that Novartis was the least loved stock in the sector when it initiated its coverage with a "buy" rating in March.
"It is up 12% since then making it the best performer in the sector (outperforming Roche by 17% and the sector by 5%)," it writes in the report.
While Liberum continues to expect Novartis to outperform its peers and views the stock's risk profile as attractive, the shares have few near-term catalysts, it says.
The shares are currently trading 1% down at 83.30 Swiss francs.
Copyright (c) 2017 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.