Barclays stays neutral on European pharma for 2027
BUZZ-Barclays stays neutral on European pharma for 2027 ** Barclays remains neutral on the European pharmaceutical sector for 2027, but turns more cautious citing a quieter pipeline and slightly slower growth for large-cap drugmakers
** It favours biotech, mid-cap and speciality pharmaceutical stocks over large-cap drugmakers, seeing faster growth
** Barclays sees life sciences companies, which supply drugmakers with services, equipment and diagnostics, outperforming as revenue growth accelerates
** It hikes Hikma Pharmaceuticals < HIK.L> to "equal-weight" from "underweight", as its execution shortfalls and downgrade cycle are seemingly over but says visibility stays poor while key management positions are unfilled
** Barclays also cuts Ipsen IPN.PA to "underweight", saying its strong 2026 delivery increasingly looks like a peak with potential competition adding pricing pressure to the high-margin Somatuline franchise
** The broker downgrades Zealand Pharma on "a relatively lean slate of value-inflecting catalysts" over the next 12 months
** Ipsen shares are falling 2.9% at 0905 GMT, while Hikma Pharmaceuticals are rising 2%
COMPANY | NEW RATING | OLD RATING | NEW PT | OLD PT |
Hikma Pharmaceuticals HIK.L | equal weight | underweight | GBP 17 | GBP 13.50 |
Ipsen IPN.PA | underweight | equal weight | €155 | €170 |
Zealand Pharma ZELA.CO | equal weight | overweight | DKK 330 | DKK 425 |
(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario and Vera Dvorakova)
((mathias.derozario@thomsonreuters.com))