HSBC Downgrade Piles Pressure on Amgen Stock
Amgen's stock price has been sliding due to a combination of factors. The latest blow came from HSBC, which downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold and slashed its price target to $425 from $445.
The analyst team at HSBC argued that shares now trade around fair value after a period of strong execution and upward estimate revisions left limited near-term upside.
HSBC's downgrade is not an isolated incident, as BMO Capital Markets also cut Amgen to Market Perform from Outperform on Tuesday, citing a less favorable risk-reward balance in the wake of Novartis' announcement that its Lp(a)-lowering drug pelacarsen failed to reduce cardiovascular death, heart attacks, or strokes in a pivotal Phase III study.
Barclays analyst Emily Field described the outcome as 'the worst possible outcome for Amgen.'