Amgen Will Make Shareholder-friendly Moves In 2018, Argus Upgrades

Amgen, Inc. AMGN is likely to helped by both fundamental catalysts and the positive impact of the new U.S. tax law, an analyst said.

The Analyst

Argus analyst David Toung upgraded Amgen from Hold to Buy and set a price target of $220. In November, the firm had downgraded Amgen on concerns about slowing sales of its top three products.

The Thesis

Amgen will implement shareholder-friendly moves this year, using the cash it repatriates from overseas, valued at $39 billion, Toung said in a Tuesday note. The company is likely to use the cash for buybacks, dividend increases, as well as M&A and new drug development, Toung added.

The analyst also sees several fundamental catalysts for growth in 2018, the analyst said. The catalysts include label expansion for Rapatha to include cardiovascular benefits, and multiple myeloma drug Kyprolis, adding longer survival data to its label, the likely approval of its migraine drug Aimovig and the launch of new biosimilar products.

"We expect new product launches, along with larger addressable markets for existing drugs, to offset the slower growth of mature products in 2018," Argus said.

As such, the firm maintained its adjusted earnings per share estimates of $12.55 for 2017 and $12.80 for 2018. The firm also expects the company's guidance for 2018 to reflect the impact of the recent changes in the U.S. corporate tax rates.

Amgen is scheduled to release its fourth quarter results on Feb. 1.

The Price Action

Amgen shares are up about 11 percent over the past year.

In pre-market trading, shares were up 0.90 percent to $194.07.

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