Peel Hunt upgrades Hikma, says upgrade cycle will drive shares

(Sharecast News) - Peel Hunt upgraded Hikma Pharmaceuticals to 'add' from 'hold' on Thursday and bumped up the price target to 1,950p from 1,160p following the company's "strong" first-half results a day earlier.The brokerage said upgraded 2018 guidance and more optimism on the sustainability of margins at the injectables division and the pace of recovery in generics have led it to lift its 2018 revenue, operating profit and earnings per share forecasts by 9%, 28% and 35%, respectively."We are now at the top end of company guidance for injectables and generics, the two divisions responsible for the H1 surprise," it said."The upgrade cycle should support positive momentum into the Q4 capital markets day, but with only modest upside to our new target price we admit we are late to this party."Peel noted that Hikma's share price has already risen more than 45% since the beginning of the year before the strong first-half results were released."Essentially flat consensus earnings over the same period means that trading multiples on current (pre-H1) consensus forecasts leave Hikma looking fully valued. However, with the street likely to come up to meet our new forecasts, this should provide headroom for further share price rises."At 1415 BST, the shares were up 3.1% to 1,799p.