Citi prefers Amarin shares to The Medicines Co. after this week's divergence

Amarin (AMRN) shares this week have declined 5% while The Medicines Co. (MDCO) stock is up 35%, Citi analyst Joel Beatty tells investors in a research note. This has brought The Medicines Co.'s enterprise value to $7.5B, exceeding Amarin's enterprise value of $7.4B, the analyst points out. However, he does not see anything fundamental having changed that would support this "drastic of a change in the relative valuation of the two companies." Thus, while Beatty keeps a Neutral rating on both stocks, he prefers owning Amarin over The Medicines Co. at this time. The Medicines Co. now looks expensive relative to Amarin, he contends. Further, the analyst says that Bloomberg's report this week of Novartis (NVS) having expressed interest in The Medicines Co. does not provide new evidence that the company is attractive from a valuation standpoint to potential acquirers.