Deutsche Bank Maintains Hold on Eli Lilly (LLY)

Deutsche Bank is out with its report today on Eli Lilly LLY, maintaining Hold. In a note to clients, Deutsche Bank writes, "We view LLY shares as fairly valued - hence our Hold rating. LLY's EPS vulnerability exceeds that of its peers, which have taken actions to improve earnings persistency through impending cliff periods, and we see little opportunity for a breakout unless Effient sales were to exceed expectations (unlikely in our view), or if the company were to do a large merger. The company's near-term EPS growth prospects will be tempered by the loss of exclusivity for Zyprexa, dilution from the IMCL acquisition and the Boehringer Ingelheim alliance, and will continue to be highly vulnerable to continued patent expirations on major profitable drugs, in 2012-2014. The EPS outlook thereafter is highly dependent on the successful development of a late-stage pipeline with low visibility and/or high risk - Alzheimer's Disease/CNS therapies and oncology assets." Deutsche Bank has a $38.50 PT on LLY. Shares of LLY closed Monday at $35.62, down 1.08% from Friday's close.