Liberum analyst Alistair Campbell earlier today downgraded Sanofi (SNY) to Hold from Buy with price target of EUR 99, up from EUR 90. The analyst cited valuation for the downgrade following the stock's rally since its new strategy was laid out in December. The European healthcare sector's outperformance in 2019 may be "as good as it gets," Campbell told investors in a research note. The analyst favors what he deems to be higher-quality growth stocks, such as AstraZeneca (AZN) and Novartis (NVS).

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%.

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.

Bearish flow noted in AstraZeneca with 3,362 puts trading, or 1.7x expected. Most active are 4/26 weekly 70 puts and May-24 70 calls, with total volume in those strikes near 3,600 contracts. The Put/Call Ratio is 1.72, while ATM IV is up nearly 2 points on the day. Earnings are expected on April 25th.