Wall Street posts worst week in over a month amid bond sell-off, rising oil prices
Investing.com -- Shares were up as much as 8.1%, hitting an intraday high of 69.46 Swiss francs, after Sandoz reported first-half results that were largely in line with forecasts, with analysts saying the market found relief following the stock’s selloff over the past month.
Jefferies, which rates Sandoz shares "buy" with a price target of 82 Swiss francs, said it expected "the market to find relief in the results despite being in-line with cons given the 10% sell-off over the past month."
Morgan Stanley, which rates the stock "underweight" with a price target of 55 Swiss francs, said it expected Sandoz shares "to be in line, with Q2 sales in line and FY26 guidance reiterated," and described the earnings reaction as "unchanged" to its thesis, with a "largely unchanged" direction for next 12-month consensus EPS.
Second-quarter net sales of $3,005 million were in line with Morgan Stanley’s $2,992 million consensus and above the $2,991.5 million average tracked by Vara Research, within Vara’s $2,960.0 million-$3,039.7 million range. Morgan Stanley said organic growth of 7% topped the 5.9% consensus estimate.
Biosimilar net sales of $1,022 million beat Morgan Stanley’s $989 million consensus by 3% and Vara’s $988.9 million average, driven by denosumab in the United States and Europe and bEylea in Europe.
Sandoz said biosimilars represented 34% of second-quarter net sales, up from 30% a year earlier, and 33% of first-half net sales, a record share, up from 29% in the first half of 2025.
Generics net sales of $1,983 million missed Morgan Stanley’s $2,003 million consensus by 1% and Vara’s $2,002.5 million average.
The business grew 1% at constant currencies, with limited impact from Chinese penicillin API competition, although Morgan Stanley said "some impact is expected in Q3’26."
For the first half, net sales of $5,761 million were in line with Morgan Stanley’s $5,748 million consensus and Vara’s $5,747.5 million average.
Core EBITDA of $1,206 million matched Morgan Stanley’s $1,207 million consensus, with a margin of 20.9% versus a 21.0% consensus estimate. Core diluted earnings per share of $1.71 came in 1% below Morgan Stanley’s $1.72 consensus estimate.
Sandoz reiterated its full-year 2026 guidance for sales to grow by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage at constant currencies, versus the 6.6% consensus cited by Morgan Stanley, and for core EBITDA margin expansion of 100 basis points from 2025, implying about 22.7%, in line with the consensus estimate.
Morgan Stanley said the guidance assumed no material contribution from GLP-1 generics in 2026.
The company now expects a mid-single-digit percentage pricing decline in 2026, compared with its previous expectation for a low-to-mid single-digit percentage decline, partly reflecting short-term market dynamics in Germany.
It now expects foreign exchange to add 2% to sales, down from its previous expectation of a 4% boost, with no impact on margins. Morgan Stanley said consensus expectations were already in line with the guidance and it did not expect revisions following the outlook.
Morgan Stanley said Sandoz’s biosimilar pipeline includes four new in-house assets: biosimilars of Winrevair, Crysvita, Saphnelo and Polivy. The bank said the next key catalyst was Sandoz’s Capital Markets Day on Sept. 8, 2026, when the company could update its medium-term targets.
