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Investing.com - BofA Securities upgraded UCB SA (BR:UCB) (OTC:UCBJY) from Neutral to Buy and raised its price target to EUR225.00 from EUR210.00, citing strong growth prospects for the company’s Bimzelx treatment.
The upgrade comes as Bimzelx’s U.S. prescription rate for fiscal year 2025 is tracking at approximately 3-4 times higher than fiscal year 2024 levels. BofA expects this momentum to continue, with its revised Bimzelx sales estimates for FY25-28 now 10-15% above consensus.
Despite Bimzelx’s strong performance, UCB has underperformed in FY25 due to high exposure to tariff and Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing risks, along with uncertainty around Bimzelx price concessions. These factors prompted BofA to raise earnings per share estimates by 2-16% based on updated Bimzelx projections.
BofA identified three potential catalysts for UCB in the second half of the year: possible relief from tariff/MFN risks, first-half 2025 results that could address Bimzelx pricing concerns, and competitor Moonlake’s Sonelokimab data that is expected to be undifferentiated versus Bimzelx.
The firm maintained its target price-to-earnings ratio of 23x for 2026 estimates, representing approximately a 40% premium to the target sector multiple of 16x, justified by Bimzelx being a unique growth asset in European pharmaceuticals driving an estimated 20% earnings per share compound annual growth rate from 2026 to 2029.
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