One of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.’s biggest sell-side supporters downgraded her rating on the company’s stock Wednesday, following other analysts who are starting to turn against the drugmaker after a 51 percent drop in the shares Tuesday.
Shibani Malhotra, an analyst with Nomura Securities, cut her rating on the shares to neutral and gave a $60 12-month price target. She had previously had a buy with a $175 target. Valeant shares were trading at $34.61 at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, an increase of 3.3 percent after Wednesday’s plunge.
“We have lost confidence in management’s ability to understand its own business and to provide reliable guidance,” Malhotra said in a note Wednesday. “We have been humbled by our stock call on Valeant, which we have defended despite the continuing spate of bad news.”
A month ago, there was only one sell rating on Valeant out of 25 analyst covering the stock, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Now there are four, with nine holds.
After the shares’ worst day ever, some analysts are starting to cut price targets as well.
Valeant shares have been falling since August, when they peaked at $262.54. The company was questioned over its high drug prices, criticized by presidential candidates and investigated by Congress, and had to cut ties with a mail-order pharmacy that critics said it was using to inflate sales. On Tuesday, the company cut its 2016 guidance, and held a disastrous conference call where it had to revise a press release issued just hours before.
Malhotra was one of a handful of bullish analysts that Chief Executive Officer Mike Pearson picked for a one-on-one call the day after he returned to the company from medical leave this month. At the time, Malhotra was a believer.
“We were able to speak with CEO Mike Pearson this afternoon, following which we have increased comfort in our buy rating,” she wrote on March 1. “The market has been quick to assume any uncertainty equates to bad news, and this is likely not the case.”
Umer Raffat, an analyst with Evercore ISI who has a buy rating on the stock and a $200 price target, has not cut his rating or price target, but pushed back against Pearson on Tuesday’s conference call.
“I just really want to focus in on some of the changes in fundamental business that seem to be coming out in the first quarter,” Raffat said. “Mike, how different is the guidance number to date versus when you first came back a couple of weeks ago?”
Raffat didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about whether he planned to change his rating or target.
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