Analysts took action on healthcare stocks, records show.
JPMorgan (JPM) maintained a neutral rating on shares of Amgen Inc. (AMGN, Financial) while Amgen was upgraded by Argus Research to buy from a previous rating of hold. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch added Allergan (AGN, Financial) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX, Financial) to its U.S. list of top stocks.
Over the last three months, Amgen also was downgraded. Last year, an analyst downgraded the stock to hold from buy. Morgan Stanley rated it overweight; BMO Capital, market-perform; Barclays. equal-weight.
Some indicators on Amgen Inc.:
- The price-book (P/B) ratio is 4.29 versus an industry median of 4.10
- The price-sales (P/S) ratio is 6.11 versus an industry median of 11.76
- The EBITDA margin is 54% versus an industry median of 66.5%
- The price-earnings (P/E) ratio is 17.23 versus an industry median of 29.02
- The current dividend yield is 2.41% versus an industry median of 1.24% and versus a S&P 500 current dividend yield of 1.72%
According to the Peter Lynch chart, Amgen is trading below the earnings line without NRI and a bit over that one with NRI.
The forward PE ratio is 14.90 while the industry has a ratio of 24.21.
Amgen has a forward dividend of $5.28 per share and a forward yield of 2.75%. The industry has a forward dividend yield of 1.25%.
Bank of America/Merrill Lynch added Allergan (AGN, Financial) to its U.S. list of top stocks.
Bank of America/Merrill Lynch U.S. 1 list is a collection of best investment ideas. The list is drawn from buy-rated universe of U.S. listed stocks, which includes ADRs. The stocks are included on this list only if they are listed in the U.S. and if they have at least a $5 million average daily trading volume over the six months.
Over the last three months, Allergan got two downgrades from Argus (buy to hold) on Dec. 7, 2017, and from Mizuho (buy to neutral) on Oct. 19, 2017.
Morgan Stanley (equal-weight to overweight) upgraded Allergan on Nov. 29, 2017. While Credit Suisse (outperform) and Citigroup (buy) maintained their ratings on the health care stock, according to note researches dispatched on Nov. 6, 2017 and on Oct. 19, 2017.
Some indicators on Allergan:
- The price-book (P/B) ratio is 0.95 versus an industry median of 2.86.
- The price-sales (P/S) ratio is 4.11 versus an industry median of 2.79.
- The EBITDA margin is -18.7% versus an industry median of 18.5%.
- The price-earnings (P/E) ratio is negative.
- The current dividend yield is 1.5% versus an industry median of 1.58% and versus a S&P 500 current dividend yield of 1.72%
Allergan is trading above both earnings lines of Peter Lynch with and without NRI:
The forward PE ratio is 12.27 while the industry has a ratio of 19.53.
Allergan has a forward dividend of $2.80 per share and a forward yield of 1.49%. The industry has a forward dividend yield of 1.05%.
Bank of America/Merrill Lynch also added Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX, Financial) to its U.S. list of top stocks.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX, Financial) got three upgrades from July 2017 to the first week of January. Bank of America raised its rating on Vertex Pharmaceuticals to buy from a previous neutral rating, according to a note research released by the analyst this year.
On July 19, 2017, the healthcare stock was upgraded by Barclays (overweight) and Janney Capital (to Buy).
Over the same span of time three analysts started covering shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated: Deutsche Bank (to Buy) on Dec. 13, 2017, DA Davidson (to Buy) on Sept. 29, 2017, and RBC Capital (to Outperform) on Sept. 15, 2017.
Some indicators on Vertex Pharmaceuticals:
- The price-book (P/B) ratio is 23.62 versus an industry median of 4.10.
- The price-sales (P/S) ratio is 18.17 versus an industry median of 11.76.
- The EBITDA margin is 4.3% versus an industry median of 66.5%.
- The price-earnings (P/E) ratio is 214.68 versus an industry median of 29.02.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ share price is currently above the price at Med P/E without NRI and plainly above the Peter Lynch Earnings line:
The forward PE ratio is 54.05 while the industry has a ratio of 24.21.
According to the Yahoo Finance’s chart, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Amgen gained 96.6% and 23.5% over the 52 weeks through Jan. 24, while Allergan lost 12.3% underperforming the S&P 500 index by 36.1%.
Source: Yahoo Finance
Vertex Pharmaceuticals outperformed the benchmark by 73% while Amgen was on par with the S&P 500 having emulated the index’ patterns.
The most prominent top institutional holders of the three stocks include T. Rowe Price Associates Inc, which has 10.47% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ shares outstanding. FMR owns 8.13% of Amgen Inc. and the Vanguard Group, Inc., which owns 6.94% of Allergan.
(Disclosure: I have no positions in any security mentioned in this article.)
