While sentiment will "clearly take a knock" at the second Roundup trial going against Bayer (BAYRY), both verdicts were delivered by juries in California and EUR 22B of litigation risk is already priced into the shares, Citi analyst Peter Verdult tells investors in a research note. The analyst says his legal checks continue to instruct him to be more focused on the upcoming Hall vs. Monsanto trial being held in St Louis from April 1. He says that verdict will better determine whether his estimate of a potential settlement liability of $1B-$6B needs to be refined. However, Bayer shares will "likely remain depressed" until there is evidence of the company prevailing in one or more of the six cases to go to trial in 2019, Verdult contends. He keeps a Buy rating on the stock but prefers other Pharma plays AstraZeneca (AZN), Sanofi (SNY), Novartis (NVS) and Merck (MRK).

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.  1... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.  1... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Check out this morning's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.  UP AFTER EARNINGS... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

FY24 consensus $8.56. Raises FY24 revenue view to $63.1B-$64.3B from $62.7B-$64.2B, consensus $63.83B.

Reports Q1 revenue $15.8B, consensus $15.2B. "Merck has begun 2024 with continuing momentum in our business. We are harnessing the power of innovation to advance our deep pipeline and are maximizing the impact of our broad commercial portfolio for the benefit of patients," said Robert Davis, chairman and chief executive officer, Merck. "We drove strong growth across key therapeutic areas, executed strategic business development, and in the U.S., we are now launching WINREVAIR, a significant new product in the cardiometabolic space for adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a progressive and debilitating disease. We have important opportunities ahead of us across all areas of our business, and we are highly focused on realizing them."

Reports business EPS of EUR 1.78, down 17.6% reported and 7.4% at CER. Reports Q1 IRFS net sales EUR 10.464B, up 2.4%. Paul Hudson, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are off to an excellent start in 2024, delivering on our strategic priorities and a transformation of our portfolio of medicines and vaccines to become a development-driven, tech-powered biopharma company committed to serving patients and accelerating growth. Continued strong performance by Dupixent and our new launches drove sales growth of seven percent. In parallel, we are delivering on our promise of increased investments in our late-stage pipeline to fully realize its value for patients and Sanofi. We are awaiting regulatory decisions for Dupixent in COPD, a progressive disease with limited effective treatment options. If approved, Dupixent will be the first biologic treatment in COPD. With the robust progress in our portfolio transformation, we reaffirm our financial guidance for 2024."

Consensus $4.56. Backs FY24 revenue view up low double-digit to low teens percentage, consensus $50.95B. Sees FY24 core tax rate 18%-22%.

Notable companies reporting before tomorrow's open, with earnings consensus, include Merck (MRK), consensus $1.87... Caterpillar (CAT), consensus $5.14... Comcast (CMSCA), consensus 99c... Honeywell (HON), consensus $2.17... Bristol-Myers (BMY), consensus ($4.44)... Altria (MO), consensus $1.15... Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), consensus 35c... GE Vernova (GEV), consensus (37c)... Royal Caribbean (RCL), consensus $1.33... Tractor Supply (TSCO), consensus $1.72... Mobileye (MBLY), consensus (6c)... Textron (TXT), consensus $1.23... LabCorp (LH), consensus $3.48... Southwest Airlines (LUV), consensus (34c)... American Airlines (AAL), consensus (29c)... Harley-Davidson (HOG), consensus $1.51.

TD Cowen analyst Yaron Werber raised the firm's price target on BeiGene (BGNE) to $236 from $235 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm updated its model to reflect lower collaborative revenue given termination of Novartis (NVS) agreement for tisle in Sep 2023.