Even With Good R&D News, JP Morgan Crimps Merck Price Target A Bit

JP Morgan is keeping Merck at an "Overweight" rating, but has trimmed its 12 month price goal, to $65 -- crimped from $68. You'll recall that Piper Jaffray made a similar move -- dropping Merck to a $60 target -- last week.

And yet, this comes amid good pivotal C. difficile clinical results, from Sunday. Add to this that this morning, Merck announced a wide array of new "hard tp treat" cancer programs data sets will be appear shortly -- for Kenilworth's pembrolizumab onslaught of programs.

Of course, the counter-argument -- on C. difficile treatment -- is that a capsule of purified stool sample is doing pretty much the same thing, in trials, at a potentially much lower price point. On pembrolizumab, BMS is a very strong first mover, with Opdivo^®. And perhaps of the greatest near term importance, the Merck sitiglipin franchise is likely to be pressured by the Jardiance^® home run data sets, into 2016. So it goes -- here's the bit:

. . . .Merck had its target price lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $68.00 to $65.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 24.69% from the stock’s previous close.. . .

We will watch the horizon, here -- as ever. Have a great evening, one and all.