President Donald Trump's tariff threat this week on generic drugs dented shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, long known for its generics business. But the company's branded portfolio and pipeline have caught Wall Street's eye as part of a longer-term growth story -- and it may be worth a look for investors.
Teva has an average Buy rating among analysts, and an average target price of $41.75, according to FactSet, indicating 38% upside from the stock's close of $30.15 Wednesday.
On Teva's branded side, take the company's Austedo medication, for starters, which is used to treat involuntary movements in Huntington's disease. Austedo first-quarter sales of $559 million in Teva's U.S. segment grew 41% compared with the same quarter a year prior.
U.S. quarterly sales of Ajovy, a migraine medication, grew 64% versus the same period in 2025, to $87 million.
Teva is set to report second quarter results July 29. J.P. Morgan analyst Chris Schott has a Buy-equivalent Overweight on the stock, with a $40 price target.
"More broadly, we see the focus of the TEVA story increasingly shifting to its branded portfolio with the company's core assets growing nicely (led by Austedo) and with a range of pipeline updates coming this year," Schott wrote in a client note this month. "And with TEVA's top- and bottom-line growth improving in 2027+, we continue to see an attractive setup for shares," he added.
Company leaders spoke at Goldman Sachs's global healthcare conference last month, where CEO Richard Francis hit on what he calls Teva's pivot-to-growth strategy.
The four pillars are to "deliver on our growth engines, step up innovation, create generics powerhouse, and focus the business, which is all about capital allocation," Francis said. "We've been executing that religiously for three and a half years, and I think you've seen the results of that."
Goldman analysts noted the company was entering a "catalyst-rich" second-half of 2026 and beyond, as Teva advances a pipeline of medications for treating schizophrenia, Tourette's Syndrome, and asthma, among others.
To be sure, generics are still a big part of Teva's plans. At the Goldman conference, Francis said the company has "turned that around from a volatile and somewhat declining business to a growing business, and we've significantly increased the amount of biosimilars we have."
Trump's announcement of 100% tariffs on generic drugs, starting two years from now, emphasized an objective to re-shore generic production in the U.S. The prospect of levies raises questions about added costs for the low-margin sector, and dragged down stocks of some generics makers.
Teva fell nearly 4% Wednesday, closing lower than the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index, which was down less than half a percentage point. The stock was rebounding more than 1% during Thursday trading.
A Teva spokesperson told Barron's the company's "focus remains on ensuring patients have access to high-quality, affordable medicines."
In a statement from the White House, spokesman Kush Desaid said: "President Trump's announcement provides a two-year runway for generic drugmakers to reshore production back into the United States, and the Administration's full equipment expensing, aggressive deregulation, and other policies are aimed at making this transition as seamless as possible."
Write to Catherine Dunn at catherine.dunn@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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July 23, 2026 13:27 ET (17:27 GMT)
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