J.P. Morgan Reiterates Overweight Rating for Merck

In a report issued earlier today, J.P. Morgan & Co. reiterated its Overweight rating for Merck & Co., Inc.

but did not name a price target. J.P. Morgan went on to say “While there are notable differences between Merck's anacetrapib and Roche's dalcetrapib in terms of both impact to HDL/LDL as well as initial clinical programs for the products, today‘s stoppage on a second interim analysis clearly represents an incremental negative to the CETP class. Along these lines, we anticipate Merck shares will be off modestly on today's news and that anacetrapib will be essentially a free call option in MRK shares pending additional clinical data.” Merck & Co., Inc. closed on Friday at $38.84.