Citi turns positive on pharma; Aurobindo, Biocon top bets

Following a rough patch, outlined by declining sales and regulatory woes, global brokerage Citi has turned positive on the pharma sector in 2020.

The US-based broker sees the pharma sector doing better in the current calendar as it expects greater stability in the US generics market. It said growth in India should pick up as base looks favorable, while reasonable valuations in the sector limit downside.

Nifty Pharma has slid 9.23 per cent in the last one year. Glenmark Pharma, the biggest loser of the pack in the period, is down 47.82 per cent.


Citi said its top picks from the space are Aurobindo Pharma and Biocon, which went down 39.57 per cent and 10.43 per cent in the last one year.

Citi has upgraded Dr Reddy Laboratories to ‘buy’ from ‘sell’ earlier. It has a target of Rs 3,380 on the stock, which translates into an upside of 15.80 per cent from Thursday’s close. The stock has given 12 per cent return in the last one year.

The broker has also upgraded Lupin to ‘neutral’ from ‘sell’ earlier with target at Rs 800. That means upside of 4.54 per cent.

Among the total 137 actively traded pharma companies on BSE, 99 have given negative returns. A few that have gained include Astrazeneca Pharma, Abbott India, Ipca Labs, Granules India, Pfizer, Suven Life Sciences, Alembic and Gujarat Themis, among others.

At 1.04 pam, Nifty Pharma index was up 0.94 per cent to 8,108.