Morgan Stanley Maintains Overweight on Abbott Laboratories (ABT)

Morgan Stanley is out with its report today on Abbott Laboratories

, maintaining Overweight. In a note to clients, Morgan Stanley writes, "Our 12-month price target for ABT is $55. Our price target is based on 11x Base Case 2012e EPS of $5.06. This represents a blend of valuation approaches reflecting the hospital supply and pharma comp groups. In our view, the premium to the pharma group is justified by Abbott's more attractive top and bottom line growth outlook, greater diversification, and relative generic insulation, as key biopharmaceutical Humira retains patent protection through 2016 and can drive growth and leverage beyond what we forecast for the supply group." At the time of posting, shares of ABT were trading pre-market at $48.50, up 0.25% from Tuesday's close.