UPDATE: Jefferies Downgrades Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to Hold on Limited Eylea Upside

Jefferies downgraded Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

from Buy to Hold and maintained a $179.00 price target. Jefferies noted, "We conducted another wAMD survey which predicts limited near/mid-term upside to Eylea sales over our ests and current valuation which already reflect anticipated growth. Notably, benefit from potential cmpding driven decline in Avastin use only modestly benefits Eylea. … Following REGN's Jan 8 pre- announcement of U.S. Eylea sales of $838M for Q4 2012 with FY2013 guidance of $1.2-$1.3B and based on our survey results, we increased our U.S. Eylea wAMD sales incrementally by 1-2% for 2013-17, modestly impacting the topline." Regeneron Pharmaceuticals closed at $179.40 on Monday.