Max Nisen, Columnist

Valeant Must Do More Than Not Be Awful

Sure, it stuck to guidance, but its targets keep getting harder to hit.

August 9, 2016 at 4:21 PM UTC

Max Nisen is a healthcare analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He previously wrote for Bloomberg Opinion, Quartz and Business Insider.

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Valeant's revenue and earnings fell short of Wall Street estimates in the second quarter, which would be disastrous news for most companies.

But Valeant's miserable year and a nearly 90 percent share-price decline from a peak last August have lowered the bar inches off the ground for the embattled pharma company. Its shares rose 17 percent on Tuesday after management merely reaffirmed its full-year guidance for 2016, breaking a long string of forecast cuts. Valeant also said it had sold a real asset (Ruconest) for real money ($60 million up front) instead of just talking about it. It also intends to negotiate more wiggle room on its debt covenants. After a series of shambolic, share-price-crushing conference calls from management, this one was surprisingly competent.