UPDATE: BMO Capital Markets Raises PT on Merck & Co. on 1Q13 Preview, Long-Term Outlook

In a report published Friday, BMO Capital Markets analyst Alex Arfaei reiterated an Outperform rating on Merck & Co. MRK, and raised the price target from $47.00 to $51.00. In the report, Arfaei noted, “We are providing our 1Q13 preview and longer term outlook for Merck. Although Merck could come slightly below 1Q13 revenue expectations of $11.1Bn, it should meet or beat the Street's $0.78 EPS consensus, and its own $0.76-$0.78 guidance. We see some modest ($0.05) downside risk to current 2013 EPS guidance of $3.60-$3.70, primarily owing to unfavorable Fx (Venezuela and Japan). But we expect investors to quickly look past this and focus on a number of potentially positive catalysts in 2H13 for example, Suvorexant FDA advisory meeting in May followed by probable approval in summer, Anti-PD-1 data at ASCO (June), probable FDA approval for Bridion (fall), and phase-2 safety data for the potentially transformative BACE inhibitor MK-8931 in Alzheimer's disease.” Merck & Co. closed on Thursday at $46.56.