Will Bristol Myers Squibb Stock Rebound After A 4% Fall Last Week?

The stock price of Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) has seen a 4% drop over the last five trading sessions led by a recent sell-off in large-cap pharmaceutical stocks over the past week or so, with Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Merck also falling over 3% each. Looking at a little longer time period, BMY stock is up only 9% year-to-date. This compares with 22% gains seen for the S&P500.

BMY’s performance is largely in-line with the big pharmaceutical stocks, except for PFE which has outperformed both its peers and the S&P500 – owing to its Covid-19 vaccine sales. Pharmaceutical companies are impacted by the current pandemic, which has resulted in lower sales for drugs. That said, the sales have begun to rebound over the recent quarters. In fact, the company’s Q2 results were better than the street estimates. But now, given the recent decline, will BMY stock continue its downward trajectory over the coming weeks, or is a recovery in the stock imminent?

According to the Trefis Machine Learning Engine, which identifies trends in the company’s stock price using ten years of historical data, returns for BMY stock average around 2% in the next one-month (twenty-one trading days) period after experiencing a 4% drop over the previous week (five trading days), implying that the stock will likely rebound in the near term.

There have been some positive developments for Bristol Myers Squibb as well, including the EU approval for Abecma – the First Anti-BCMA CAR T Cell Therapy – for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Abecma was also approved by the U.S. FDA in March earlier this year. For perspective, the peak sales for Abecma are expected to be north of $2 billion. Recently, the company has also filed for a supplemental biologics license application with the US FDA for its blockbuster drug, Orencia, currently approved for certain forms of arthritis. Bristol Myers Squibb is now seeking approval for the prevention of moderate to severe acute graft versus host disease (aGvHD). The newly filed application is under priority review with a decision likely later this year. These developments are likely to bode well for BMY stock in the near term, in our view.

But how would the returns fare if you are interested in holding BMY stock for a shorter or a longer time period? You can test the answer and many other combinations on the Trefis Machine Learning Engine to test Bristol Myers Squibb stock chances of a rise after a fall. You can test the chance of recovery over different time intervals of a quarter, month, or even just 1 day!

MACHINE LEARNING ENGINE – try it yourself:

IF BMY stock moved by -5% over five trading days, THEN over the next twenty-one trading days BMY stock moves an average of 2.3%, with a reasonable 62% probability of a positive return over this period.

Some Fun Scenarios, FAQs & Making Sense of Bristol Myers Squibb Stock Movements:

Question 1: Is the average return for Bristol Myers Squibb stock higher after a drop?

Answer: Consider two situations,

Case 1: Bristol Myers Squibb stock drops by -5% or more in a week

Case 2: Bristol Myers Squibb stock rises by 5% or more in a week

Is the average return for Bristol Myers Squibb stock higher over the subsequent month after Case 1 or Case 2?

BMY stock fares better after Case 1, with an average return of 2.3% over the next month (21 trading days) under Case 1 (where the stock has just suffered a 5% loss over the previous week), versus, an average return of 1.2% for Case 2.

In comparison, the S&P 500 has an average return of 3.1% over the next 21 trading days under Case 1, and an average return of just 0.5% for Case 2 as detailed in our dashboard that details the average return for the S&P 500 after a fall or rise.

Try the Trefis machine learning engine above to see for yourself how Bristol Myers Squibb stock is likely to behave after any specific gain or loss over a period.

Question 2: Does patience pay?

Answer: If you buy and hold Bristol Myers Squibb stock, the expectation is over time the near-term fluctuations will cancel out, and the long-term positive trend will favor you – at least if the company is otherwise strong.

Overall, according to data and Trefis machine learning engine’s calculations, patience absolutely pays for most stocks!

For BMY stock, the returns over the next N days after a -5% change over the last five trading days is detailed in the table below, along with the returns for the S&P500:

You can try the engine to see what this table looks like for Bristol Myers Squibb after a larger loss over the last week, month, or quarter.

Question 3: What about the average return after a rise if you wait for a while?

Answer: The average return after a rise is understandably lower than after a fall as detailed in the previous question. Interestingly, though, if a stock has gained over the last few days, you would do better to avoid short-term bets for most stocks.

It’s pretty powerful to test the trend for yourself for Bristol Myers Squibb stock by changing the inputs in the charts above.

See all Trefis Price Estimates and Download Trefis Data here

What’s behind Trefis? See How It’s Powering New Collaboration and What-Ifs For CFOs and Finance Teams | Product, R&D, and Marketing Teams