Morgan Stanley Upgrades Bristol Myers Squibb to Overweight, Raises PT to $34

Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on Bristol Myers Squibb BMY from Equal-weight to Overweight. At the same time, Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the company's stock from $28 to $34. In a research report published today, Morgan Stanley stressed the company's new product apixaban as the reason for its decision. In the report, Morgan Stanley states, "We are upgrading BMY to OW and raising our PT from $28 to $34. The catalyst was news that apixaban (novel blood thinner) showed superiority to warfarin (gold standard) on both efficacy and bleeding in the Ph III atrial fibrillation study. Apixaban appears to have a superior profile to Xarelto and Pradaxa, which we believe is negative for JNJ/Bayer and privately-held BI, but we await details at ESC in Aug." On Wednesday, Bristol Myers lost 0.86% of its value to close the day at $27.74. Its shares rebounded strongly in today's pre-market trading, however, rising 7.25% to $29.75.