Morgan Stanley upgraded Roche Holding to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised its ADR price target to $63 from $46, sending Roche's U.S.-traded ADRs up about 2.2% to $57.38 on Friday. The bank also replaced AstraZeneca with Roche as its top pharmaceutical pick, citing faster rollout and larger U.S. market potential for the investigational oral breast-cancer drug giredestrant, which it now expects to generate roughly 660 million Swiss francs in first-year sales. That stronger outlook pushed Morgan Stanley's 2027 core earnings estimate to 22.96 Swiss francs per share, about 5.2% above Wall Street consensus. Roche has reported Phase 3 results showing giredestrant cut the risk of invasive disease recurrence or death by 30% versus standard endocrine therapy, while first-half core operating profit rose 10% at constant exchange rates to 11.9 billion Swiss francs. The FDA is expected to decide on giredestrant for early-stage breast cancer by November 30, with another ruling on its combination with everolimus in December.
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