Morgan Stanley Reviews Biogen Earnings

In a report published Friday, analysts at Morgan Stanley maintained their Overweight rating on

. The company reported its 1Q15 revenues and EPS below expectations, driven by a miss of about $80 million for Tecfidera. Biogen's pipeline is on track to meeting the milestones for 2015, with Tysabri scheduled for SPMS in 2H and Stroke and Neublastin in mid-2015. The analysts expect any downside to the stock to be mitigated by the optimism surrounding the pipeline. The revenue miss in Q1 was due to seasonal factors, according to the company's management, with one less selling week for Tecfidera in 1Q15, as compared to 4Q14, which led to a decline of about $50 million in sales. In addition, there were about 4 percent more rebates in 1Q than for 2015 on the whole, the management indicated. "Mgt. indicated (1) Tysabri for stroke should read-out in mid-2015, (2) Tysabri for SPMS 2H15 and (3) Neublastin in mid-2015; Further, (4) Mgt. has started a PhIII of Tecfidera in SPMS and (5) plans to begin the PhIIIs of BIIB037 in Alzheimer's in 2H15," the analysts stated. Biogen intends to finalize the study design in the coming months. Finally, "given the upcoming catalysts and new base value for Alzheimer's disease we would expect the downside to be limited," the analysts added.