In a note to clients Monday, Deutsche Bank said it is downgrading its recommendation following AstraZeneca's victory in the Seroquel U.S. patent case and subsequent positive stock reaction.
The broker said it sees additional sources of upside but further gains are less obvious and the stock is now trading close to its assessed fair value, hence the downgrade.
Deutsche said it continues to urge investors not to be underweight on AstraZeneca due to its defensive characteristics and the chance that the company could participate in sector consolidation.
The broker said potential upside risks to its price target include continued funds flows into pharma and large-cap M&A, as well as a positive outcome for Zactima in Phase 3.
Downside risks include at-risk generic launch against Pulmicort, in its numbers but not consensus, or development setbacks, the broker said. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com jb1/slm
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