Credit Suisse Bullish On Most Big Pharma Names

• Credit Suisse’s Alethia Young initiated coverage of several major pharmaceutical companies, commenting on their valuations, pipelines and more.

Analyst Alethia Young initiated coverage of Amgen, Inc. AMGN with an Outperform rating and a $205 price target. Young said that the investment thesis reflected the company’s near-term pipeline data, a positive view on PCSK9 outcomes, a bullish stance on biosimilars, and confidence in Credit Suisse’s base business estimates.

Young also initiated coverage of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. BMRN with an Outperform rating and a price target of $110. “We have excluded DMD and hemophilia fully from our valuation and see upside from current levels,” Young wrote, while adding that the upside is from BioMarin’s pipeline.

Terming the stock of Celgene Corporation CELG as the “best-in-class growth at the right price,” Young initiated coverage of the company with an Outperform rating and a price target of $149. The stock looks cheap relative to its growth in view of its current and pipeline products.

Coverage of Coherus Biosciences Inc CHRS has been initiated with an Outperform rating and a $25 price target. Young wrote, “We think biosimilars are coming and will evolve as a major part of global biotech & pharma worldwide revenues.” She added that Coherus was among the first and only pure-play biosimilar companies.

Young initiated coverage of Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD with an Outperform rating and a $125 price target. She believes that the concerns surrounding an upcoming “patent cliff” for the HIV franchise in 2018-2021 and a lack of revenue sustainability in the Hep C franchise appear overdone.

Coverage of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN has been initiated with a Neutral rating and a price target of $552. “We are still positive on the grandfather of all platform stories in the long term, but at these levels, we think the market is too,” Young commented.

The analyst initiated coverage of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated VRTX with an Outperform rating and a $151 price target. While saying that Vertex has “no real competition in sight,” Young said that this advantage appears sustainable because of innovation.

While saying that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALNY has an early-stage pipeline that is poised for sustained growth, Young initiated coverage of the company with an Outperform rating and a $154 price target. The thesis is based on several clinical opportunities maturing toward proof of concept, meaningful catalysts over the next 12 months on various programs, and powerful growth platform technology.

Young initiated coverage of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALXN with a Neutral rating and a price target of $201. “At this level we do think ample share and pricing erosion are priced in, but we think competitive data readouts may be an overhang on shares until we learn more about 1210 and competitor clinical profiles,” the Credit Suisse report noted.

The analyst initiating coverage of Biogen Inc BIIB with a Neutral rating and a $322 price target. Young believes that the company’s base businesses continue to have headwinds and that its pipeline would drive significant upside.

Young initiated coverage of XenoPort, Inc. XNPT with an Underperform rating and price target of $4, expressing skepticism regarding the potential for any meaningful pick up in Horizant sales to a level that would be profitable. The analyst also noted it would be difficult for Xenoport to find the right partner for its psoriasis drug due to its risk-benefit profile.

Initiating coverage of PTC Therapeutics, Inc. PTCT with an Outperform rating and price target of $36, Young noted that most of the company’s pipeline was still a “free call option,” including SMA and cystic fibrosis, and that U.S. approval for its Phase 2 and 3 dataset was still a possibility.

The analyst initiated coverage of Mesoblast limited (ADR) MESO with an Outperform rating and price target of $10. “We see the opportunity for one or two late-stage programs that could have potential blockbuster assets,” Young stated, while adding that the current stock valuation did not give credit to the company’s future programs.

Young initiated coverage of Incyte Corporation INCY with an Outperform rating and price target of $110. The analyst expects Baracitinib royalties to be higher than the consensus expectations, while the market opportunit y for Jakafi’s PV indication is likely to be bigger than earlier anticipated.