Nomura Just Cut Its Price Target On Gilead

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Nomura cut its price target on Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD from $146 to $141 and maintained a Buy rating following the release of the company’s Q4 earnings results on Tuesday.

Analyst M. Ian Somaiya thought that consensus estimates for 2015 would be lowered due to the “shock of aggressive discounting by Gilead (46 percent vs. our 20 percent estimate) on its HCV drugs.”

On the upside, however, Somaiya noted that the company has secured open access for patients and raised the competitive bar which, along with drug discounting, should “lead to significantly higher patient volume” and allow Gilead to maintain market share with “Harvoni’s best-in-class profile.”

Somaiya called “all investors seeking value” to give attention to the stock and estimated fiscal year 2015 EPS at $10.13 and fiscal year 2016 EPS at $10.86.

Gilead traded down nearly 10 percent during Wednesday's trading.

Image credit: Jeffrey Beall, Wikimedia