As far as Goldman Sachs is concerned, Pfizer (PFE) is out and AbbVie (ABBV) is in.
Analyst Jami Rubin and her team removed Pfizer from the firm's much touted Conviction Buy list on Tuesday, and replaced it with AbbVie.
Now don't panic. Goldman isn't downgrading Pfizer. Rubin maintained her Buy rating and raised her 12-month price target to $35 from $34. She writes:
We have long been advocates of the PFE breakup/ spin story, having argued for such a restructuring as early as November 2008. While as previously discussed we continue to expect PFE to move down the path of a full break up by 2017 (announcement likely in 2015/2016), we no longer see our call as out of consensus. PFE is up 82.5% since being added to the CL on 8/9/11 vs. the S&P 500 up 53.9%.
Still, Rubin and her team say they "simply see greater upside to AbbVie," which has a price target of $60 a share. Rubin writes:
With an $18B revenue base, ABBV has more pipeline leverage than most other mid-sized biopharma peers and is entering a long period of robust clinical trial read-outs beginning Q4.
Shares of Pfizer fell 1.7% today to $31.28, while AbbVie rose 3.4% to $50.
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