embecta has better rebound potential

Article Excerpt

These two firms have struggled since being spun off by larger medical firms. While both are taking steps to improve their product lineups, we feel embecta is in a better position to rebound from its recent drop. VIATRIS INC. $12 is a hold. The company (New York symbol VTRS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $14.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.viatris.com) makes a variety of branded and generic drugs, include Celebrex (pain relief), Viagra (erectile dysfunction) and Lipitor (cholesterol). It was formed in November 2020 by the merger of Pfizer’s Upjohn division (generic drugs) and Netherlands-based Mylan N.V. Pfizer investors received 0.124079 of a Viatris share for each Pfizer share they held. In November 2022, the company merged its biosimilars drug business with India’s Biocon Biologics. Biosimilars are cheaper copies of complex biologic drugs. Viatris received $2.0 billion in cash plus $1.0 billion of Biocon convertible preferred shares. That cash helped it pay $427.4…