JP Morgan ups AstraZeneca target price on potential for oncology pipeline

Analysts at JP Morgan hiker their target price for shares of AstraZeneca and pointed to the potential for "significant" future upward revisions to analysts' estimates for the profitability of the company's oncology pipeline.

The latter, they said, should help drive a further re-rating in the share price.

In particular, they focused on the potential for Enhertu and DS-1062 Antibody Drug Conjugate for HER2-expressing cancer and TROP2-expressing cancer, respectively.

Combined, they forecast the two treatments were capable of generating combined in-market peak annual sales of over $20bn - shares with partner Daiiichi - with the potential for significant long-term upgrades over the following 12 months.

For Enhertu, a DB-04 PIII data presentation was scheduled for June 2022, headline DB-06 PIII data in mid-2023 and additional readouts in 2024-25.

In the case of DS-1062, the first PIII data was expected in late 2022 or early 2023 with read-through to further PIII data in approximately 2025.

On the back of all of the above, JP Morgan raised its target price for the shares from 10,000.0p to 12,000.0p and reiterated its 'overweight' rating.

The analysts' estimates for Enhertu and DS-1062 were 20% and 75% ahead of the company consensus for 2027.