Atlantic Equities upgraded its rating on shares of Merck (NYSE:MRK) to overweight on Monday, saying that the company is "the best positioned" to grow among large pharmaceutical companies that the firm believes are protected from the trade war between the U.S. and China.
"Amid oversold conditions in a sector we believe can provide a source of defensive growth that is insulated from trade-related volatility and a recent pullback in the shares, we upgrade MRK to overweight," Atlantic analyst Steve Chesney said in a note to investors.
Last week, Merck came out with esults from a Phase 2 trial evaluating the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of V114, the company’s investigational 15-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, as compared to the currently available 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) in healthy infants six to 12 weeks of age.
In the study, designated V114-008, V114 met its primary endpoint by demonstrating noninferiority for the 13 serotypes contained in both vaccines. V114 also induced an immune response in infants for two additional disease-causing serotypes, 22F and 33F, which are not contained in PCV13.
Children under the age of two are at increased risk for pneumococcal infection, which in some cases may lead to serious illnesses like pneumococcal pneumonia.
These Phase 2 data evaluating V114 in infants were called "encouraging" by the researchers, who added that they mark important progress to helping expand protection against pneumococcal disease for this vulnerable patient population.”
Merck shares slid early Monday 87 cents, or 1.1%, to $77.75
