Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, May 14, 2021

Article Excerpt

VIATRIS INC., $16.00, Nasdaq symbol VTRS, is a hold. The company took its current form on November 16, 2020, when Pfizer Inc. (New York symbol PFE) combined its Upjohn division (generic pharmaceuticals) with Netherlands-based Mylan N.V. (Nasdaq symbol MYL). Pfizer investors received 0.124079 of a share in the new firm for each share they held. As a group, they now own 57% of Viatris. Mylan’s investors hold the other 43%. Viatris’ main products include Celebrex (pain relief), Viagra (erectile dysfunction), Lipitor (cholesterol) and Lyrica (diabetes). It has over 2,100 branded and generic products. As a result of the merger with Mylan, the new company’s revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2021, jumped 70.0% to $4.40 billion from $2.59 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $4.20 billion. On a comparable basis, revenue fell 1.7%. That’s due to loss of patent protection for Lyrica and Celebrex in Japan and lower demand for other products due to COVID-19. Those factors offset revenue…