By Sam Boughedda
Shares of AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE:ABC) traded 3% lower Wednesday after the company held its investor day event.
The company's first investor day in nine years saw it present its updated long-term growth outlook, reiterating its previous guidance for adjusted earnings of $10.80 to $11.05 per share for fiscal 2022.
In addition, ABC authorized a new share repurchase program, allowing the company to purchase up to $1 billion of its outstanding shares.
Commenting on ABC's investor day, Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson said, "the longer-term guidance is likely to be viewed as a slight disappointment (8-12% EPS growth), though management noted that the 3-4% contribution from capital deployment will increase across the outlook period and can be above 4% as Alliance debt is repaid."
"For FY23, 8% EPS growth guidance off the current midpoint (ex-COVID) is $11.04 + potentially ~$0.35 of COVID contribution for a new ABC FY23 of ~$11.39 ($11.26-$11.53). This estimate is in line with EVR ISI ($11.37), but below the St estimate of $11.54," added Anderson.
The analyst maintained an Outperform rating on the stock but cut the firm's price target on ABS shares to $165 from $176.