Berenberg downgrades GSK to 'hold' ahead of product rollouts
Analysts at Berenberg downgraded drugmaker GSK from 'buy' to 'hold' on Tuesday as it awaited upcoming product launches.
Berenberg said GSK has delivered 12% absolute share price performance year-to-date, the highest in the sector, but despite this, continues to trade roughly 30% below the value of its marketed drugs alone.
The German bank stated that a better-than-anticipated start to any of GSK's upcoming product rollouts could "reinvigorate investor interest" and begin to address 2028+ HIV patent expiry fears.
However, Berenberg expects investors to adopt "a show-me attitude" and noted that while GSK's valuation "remains unchallenging", it prefers Sanofi for pharma value investors.
"GSK trades on 8.7x 2026 adjusted earnings versus non-obesity European peers on 11.5x. On EV/NPV, GSK trades c15% below European non-obesity peers (0.70x versus 0.82x) and c30% below the value of marketed assets alone," said Berenberg, which reiterated its £16.00 target price.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com