Endo International (ENDP, Financial) is a specialty healthcare company engaged in developing, manufacturing, marketing and distributing branded pharmaceutical and generic products and medical devices. Endo experienced significantly worse-than-anticipated erosion at Qualitest, its legacy generic drug platform. The competitive environment changed quickly, and we were slow to recognize it. After conversations with both management and a couple of the larger drug buying consortiums, we could not gain comfort in the durability of Endo’s now lower earnings base. The company’s balance sheet and potential legal obligations (liabilities relating to the company’s legacy vaginal mesh products) left less room for error given growth challenges on the branded side of Endo’s business. Considering the erosion in our investment thesis, questions about management’s ability to identify and navigate risk, and a growing list of unknowns surrounding the business, we elected to close our position in the second calendar quarter of 2016 and refocus our capital in more attractive opportunities.
From Weitz Value Fund first quarter 2017 commentary.
