AstraZeneca PLC’s (LON:AZN) shares have decoupled from the vaccine headlines, Barclays commented.
The stock has jumped 4% since Friday, when it posted a quarterly update including a bullish statement on its outlook.
READ: AstraZeneca boss defends Covid-19 vaccine supply, "doing best it can"
The movement outperformed Barclays’s initial estimations and analysts believe the pharma giant is “becoming a cleaner story for investors to own” in the second half this year.
The next months will see a performance boost as vaccine rollouts and lower infections will reduce the hit of the pandemic on trading.
“A key indicator of this (from our perspective) was the lack of COVID-19 vaccine questions on the call… affirming that the vaccine will not be a material financial driver for the company,” the bank said.
AstraZeneca said on Friday total revenue for the year is estimated to jump 11-12%, with core earnings per share (EPS) coming in at US$4.75-5.
The forecasts don’t include any revenue or profit impact from sales of the COVID-19 vaccine, nor the proposed acquisition of rare disease firm Alexion, which will close in the third quarter.
In the quarter ended 31 March, revenue climbed 15% to US$7.3bn and core EPS soared 55% to US$1.63.
Shares were flat at 7,687p on Tuesday morning.