Citi Sets Pfizer Price Target At $23

According to Citi, Pfizer PFE price target is $23. Citi said that it arrives at its $23 target price for Pfizer based on a relative P/E compared to the US Drug peer group. “We assume PFE trades at ~10x our 2012E EPS of $2.29, or roughly in-line with its peers. Although PFE's growth strategy appears to be focused on its “innovation core” of ~$35B following patent expiries in 2012, we believe that its top-line growth outlook still looks negative without acquisition. Over the past decade, we note that Pfizer has traded in a range of a 17% discount to a 50% premium (average of a 10% premium) relative to the drug multiple. Given that Pfizer's current growth and risk profile is very different from years past, we currently view this historical premium as generous and believe PFE should trade at parity to the group.” Pfizer closed yesterday at $20.93.