In terms of roller coaster rides, Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl. Inc. (TSX:VRX)(NYSE:VRX) shareholders sure have been on one heck of a ride in 2017.
While Valeant’s management team has fulfilled its promise to meaningfully cut its debt load by $5 billion and begin to reinvest in growth opportunities as appropriate, the company’s share price has risen on a year-over-year basis.
This year over year increase of more than 25% (at the time of writing) has certainly been driven by the more than 10% increase in Valeant’s share price last week alone. Driven in large part by Valeant’s bid to refinance a significant portion of its debt due in 2020, pushing $1.5 billion of secured notes out to 2025 (using unsecured debt, albeit at a higher interest rate), Valeant has gained credence among some investors in terms of the company’s ability to achieve its goal of churning out cash flow and returning value to shareholders in a meaningful fashion.
Whether the company decides to continue to refinance its debt due within five years or issue another equity offering, it is clear that Valeant’s management team is on the right track to create shareholder value and continue to launch new and innovative products to capture much of the market share the company has lost in selling assets to pay off debt recently.
Invest wisely, my friends.
