Merck downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays - InvestingChannel

Merck downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

Barclays analyst Geoff Meacham downgraded Merck (MRK) to Equal Weight and cut his price target for the shares to $62 from $72. The healthcare company closed Friday down 6% to $58.24. The analyst sees less upside potential for Keytruda sales in lung cancer with the withdraw of the KN-021G filing in Europe for front-line non-small cell lung cancer and delays to the Phase 3 KN-189 trial from adding overall survival as a co-primary endpoint. Merck may have to compete in bidding for growth assets for a “revenue bridge,” Meacham tells investors in a research note following Merck’s Q3 results. He also believes lung cancer data in late 2017/early 2018 from both Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and Roche (RHHBY) could further weigh on Merck’s investor sentiment.