After a long hiatus, the Nifty Pharma index has outpaced other sector indices, with some pharma companies making high double-digit gains.
But Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s stock gained a mere 6% in 2020 against the Nifty Pharma’s nearly 18% rise. For one, while the specialty products business is growing, it is yet to see any marked pickup in revenue.
Further, one of its large specialty products, Absorica, is likely to face generic competition in the US in December. Besides, the sales push required to drive revenues in specialty products faces hurdles due to covid-19.
Also, Sun has to incur heavy marketing and other related expenses, which will tend to keep costs high. Nevertheless, in the past year, its formulation, Ilumya, clocked