Valeant Is Going Vertical Ahead of Some Major Year-End Catalysts

(Bloomberg) -- Don’t look now, but Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. is at its highest level in more than a year.

This former favorite of Bill Ackman, which was attracting price targets above $300 in mid-2015 before losing most of its value, has climbed more than 75 percent since the end of October as the drugmaker prepares to begin sales this month of its new glaucoma treatment, Vyzulta. In addition, the U.S. FDA will decide by December 27 whether to approve the company’s Luminesse for ocular redness.

While the stock has recently been attracting value investors such as Dimensional Fund Advisors, Wall Street has remained wary, with the average analyst price target of $17 sitting several dollars below where the stock is trading today.

Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Elizabeth Krutoholow and Curt Wanek noted last month that new drugs -- Vyzulta, Siliq, IDP-118 and Luminesse -- can help offset sales drags starting as soon as next year, though 2018 will still be a tough year. Vyzulta is expected to garner about $174 million in sales by 2021, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, with Luminesse sales that year projected to be more modest, at $38 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bailey Lipschultz in New York at blipschultz@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Jeremy R. Cooke

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