Stock on Trader’s Radar: Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) reported earnings for the three months ended Mar2016 on April 21, 2016. The company earned $1.16 per share on revenue of $11.6B. Analysts had been modeling earning per share of $1.18 with $11.88B in revenue.

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets a range of healthcare products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Pharmaceuticals, Alcon, and Sandoz. The Pharmaceuticals segment offers patented prescription medicines for oncology, neuroscience, retina, immunology and dermatology, respiratory, cardio-metabolic, established medicines, and cell and gene therapies. The Alcon segment provides eye care products, including ophthalmic surgical equipment, instruments, disposable products, and intraocular lenses; medicines to treat chronic and acute diseases of the eye, and over-the-counter medicines for the eye; and contact lenses and lens care products. The Sandoz segment offers generic prescription medicines that include active ingredients and finished dosage forms of pharmaceuticals for dermatology, respiratory and ophthalmic, cardiovascular, metabolism, central nervous system, pain, gastrointestinal, and hormonal therapies; active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates primarily antibiotics; protein or other biotechnology-based products; and cytotoxic products for the hospital markets, as well as biotechnology manufacturing services to other companies. The company has collaboration and licensing agreements with Intellia Therapeutics for the discovery and development of new medicines using CRISPR genome editing technology; and with Caribou Biosciences for the development of drug discovery tools. Novartis AG was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

Novartis AG earnings per share showed a decreasing trend of -33.3% for the current fiscal year. The company’s expected EPS growth rate for next fiscal year is 523%.Analysts project EPS growth over the next 5 years at 4.58%. It has EPS annual decline over the past 5 fiscal years of -7.5% when sales declined -0.5. It reported -3% sales drop, and -10.9% EPS decline in the last quarter.

The stock is trading at $79.51, up 15.45% from 52-week low of $69.9. The stock trades down -22.68% from its peak of $106.84 and 16.34% above the consensus price target of $92.5. Its volume clocked up at 1.6 million shares which is lower than the average volume of 2.22 million shares. Its market capitalization currently stands at $190.76B.