What Happened?
Shares of medication company Viatris (NASDAQ: VTRS) jumped 6.4% in the afternoon session after investment bank UBS upgraded the company's stock from "Neutral" to "Buy" and increased its price target.
The firm raised its price target on Viatris shares to $18 from a previous target of $11. This new target suggested significant potential upside for the stock. The upgrade from an investment bank often reflects a more positive outlook on a company's future performance.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Viatris’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 10 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 12 months ago when the stock dropped 16.9% on the news that the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results, with sales, earnings, and operating income all missing analysts' expectations. Sales came in soft, driven by strength in Greater China and new product launches, but weighed down by weaker performance in Developed and Emerging Markets. Looking ahead, Viatris' 2025 guidance also disappointed, with revenue and adjusted EBITDA projections falling short of expectations. The company expects an approximately $500 million revenue hit and a $385 million impact on adjusted EBITDA due to ongoing regulatory challenges at its Indore facility. Overall, this was a weaker quarter, and there were few positives to take away from the results.
Viatris is up 24.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $15.55 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Viatris’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $841.80.
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