Canaccord hosted investor meetings with IDEXX (IDXX) management, who spoke about new product launches and their market share in light of competitive concerns. Management declined to comment on Zoetis' (ZTS) potential interest in scaling up its animal health diagnostics business, said Canaccord, which noted that it thinks Zoetis could make a bid for IDEXX. Canaccord reiterated its Buy rating and $80 price target on IDEXX shares, citing its cash on the balance sheet, low interest rates, recent CEO stock purchases and new product cycles that skew the risk/reward to the upside.

Barclays lowered the firm's price target on Zoetis to $230 from $260 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares ahead of the Q1 report. The analyst expects the Q1 reports to provide continuing evidence of improvement in generics and biosimilars for the specialty pharmaceuticals group.

Jefferies analyst Glen Santangelo lowered the firm's price target on Zoetis (ZTS) to $200 from $220 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares. Zoetis shares are down year-to-date on several factors, with the two most significant being Librela safety concerns and pending competition launches from Elanco (ELAN), the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm, however, conducted a survey of 35 veterinarians and says the data looks largely positive for Zoetis. While the competitive landscape around key products bears monitoring, the stock's current valuation discount "seems overly punitive," contends Jefferies. The firm believes this "battered expectation level represents an attractive buying opportunity" ahead of the company's Q1 report. Jefferies notes that 100% of the 35 of vets it surveyed are happy, either very or somewhat, with Librela efficacy while 97% were neutral to happy with the safety profile. Meanwhile, 50% of respondents expect osteoarthritis pain scripts to growth 11%-30% in the next two years, the firm adds.