Why AbbVie Stock Trounced the Market Today

The positive, post-earnings momentum lifting AbbVie 's (NYSE: ABBV) stock price continued on Monday. The veteran healthcare company's shares booked a gain of more than 3% during the trading session. The key reason was a pair of bullish analyst notes on its business. That rise meant the stock easily beat the S&P 500 index, which could only manage a less than 0.1% gain.

Still flying after first-quarter results

Of the two notes, arguably the more impactful was the one BMO Capital's Evan David Seigerman published before market open. The analyst continues to be positive on AbbVie, as he maintained his outperform (buy, in other words) recommendation on the stock and $215 per-share price target.

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Not surprisingly, according to reports, Seigerman focused on AbbVie's first-quarter earnings release that was published on Friday. The analyst said that management was continuing to execute well, particularly in relation to important high revenue-generating products Skyrizi and Rinvoq. He pointed out that the unexpectedly high sales of the pair of drugs offset the anticipated declines of Humira.

Seigerman was also cheered by what he considered to be a justifiable raise in per-share earnings guidance by the company. Additionally, the company could gain from favorable foreign exchange movements, in his view.

Still a bargain, researcher says

AbbVie also got a boost from global bank HSBC , which published a somewhat dispiriting update that morning on several prominent healthcare titles.

In its report, the company downgraded several stocks under its coverage. Among other moves, it changed its recommendation on Zepbound maker Eli Lilly to reduce from buy. On the flip side, HSBC flagged several sector names as being buys; among those it considers to be a good value for the money these days is AbbVie.

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