Teva's share made history today. The share price climbed above the $50 mark to an all-time high of $50.2. Crisis or no, Teva has quietly come through the shocks that afflicting the stock market, and since October its share price has risen 32%. Teva was recently included in "Fortune" magazine's list of 40 recommended stocks, and starred in "Forbes" magazine's recommended list as well.
Teva's previous peak was on February 22, 2008, when it touched $49.9, before falling back to a low of $35.8 on October 10, about three weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Three weeks ago, the share again touched $49, but failed to break through the $50 barrier.
In the past week, several positive items of news about Teva prepared the way for the historic high. Today, the company announced that it had received FDA approval to sell a generic version of oral contraceptive Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo, which has annual sales of $400 million.
Although it hit a peak, trading volumes in Teva shares was low today: only 3 miion shares had changed hands by halfway through the session, compared with a dialy average of 5.46 million. On the basis of the p/e ratio, the share is not cheap, trading at a ratio of 44.09, when the industry average is just 17.82. Nevertheless, the 16 analysts who cover Teva on Wall Street set an average price target of $54.49.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 1, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009