Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla

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Shares of Pfizer were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS, with the firm writing that it expects antiviral pill Paxlovid to reach sales of at least $14 billion next year, or 40% above Wall Street expectations.

UBS analyst Colin Bristow, in a research note Monday, also boosted the price target on the stock to $60 from $52.

Pfizer (ticker: PFE) shares rose 2.5% to $54.10. The company announced Monday it was acquiring Arena Pharmaceuticals for $100 a share, or $6.7 billion.

The rating from UBS was issued before the acquisition was announced.

Bristow wrote how Pfizer’s Covid franchise — Paxlovid and Cominarty, the company’s Covid-19 vaccine — has peak sales potential in 2022 of $50 billion.

UBS estimates that the Covid sales will drive Pfizer’s earnings in 2022 to $5.71 a share.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect 2022 earnings at Pfizer of $5.47 a share.

It was announced last month that the U.S. government had agreed to buy 10 million treatment courses of Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill in a $5.29 billion deal.

Pfizer has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the experimental pill. The pill reduced the risk of hospitalization among 1,219 high-risk patients by almost 90% in advanced clinical trials. The trial recorded no deaths among people who took the treatment.

Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com

Source: finance.yahoo.com