- Fresenius Medical Care (FMS -3.7%) was downgraded by JPMorgan to Underweight from Neutral with a EUR 60.80 price target.
- The analyst expects a "near-term squeeze" on the company's revenues and costs from accelerating Covid-19 deaths.
- The company had confirmed its outlook for FY 2021 in its July 30 earnings release and expected revenue to grow at a low- to mid-single digit percentage rate and net income to decline at a high-teens to mid-twenties percentage rate against the 2020 base.
- The company's outlook is based on the assumption of a return to normalized mortality rates in the second half of 2021.
- The analyst noted that the assumption that Covid-19 deaths would be low in the second half of 2021 and into 2022 will prove too optimistic.
- According to the U.S. CDC data the figures below show the number of new and total COVID-19 deaths reported in the U.S. each week from July 3 to Sept. 4 and forecasted over the next 4 weeks, through October 2.
