Bayer's Sales Below Expectations But Profits Are Up

BMI View: Bayer's diversified portfolio is not heavily dependent on blockbuster drugs and it has limited exposure to the patent cliff. Of all the multinational drugmakers, it generates the highest proportion of its sales in the emerging markets - an encouraging sign. However, BMI expects Bayer's pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors to continue to underperform in the medium term, as its blood thinner Xarelto (rivaroxaban) looks to be facing tough competition and the company has lost the European patent for Yasmin (ethinylestradiol + drospirenone), its second best selling drug. Nevertheless, the other sectors in the company, CropScience and MaterialScience, seem to be performing well overall and the group's share price should perform in line with BMI's Pharma 20 Index for the last two quarters of 2011.

To read the full article, please choose one of the following options: