The Week That Was. . . Jefferies Lowered Merck -- To $50 (From $54); And "Neutral" Rating (From "Buy" As Late As May 2013)

Not too much price action though -- Jefferies posits that Merck's 8,500 job cuts, and $2.5 billion savings over three years, is not enough.

Whether I agree or disagree with the Jefferies' & Co. specific points of analysis is immaterial. The meta-narrative here is that we all agree: big pharma needs (more generally) to reinvent itself. From the Motley Fool, then:

. . . .Shares of Merck [were] down fractionally, likely because of an analyst downgrade at Jefferies. The firm lowered its rating on the stock from buy to hold and cut its price target on the stock from $54, to $50. Jefferies said deteriorating business fundamentals and a smaller-than-expected cost-cutting program were two of the main reasons for the change. Just recently Merck announced that it will restructure and cut $2.5 billion in expenses over the next few years. . . .

Do stay tuned.