FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - After a brief consolidation, Bayer shares resumed their upward trend on Monday. Recently, more and more analysts have become optimistic after the pharmaceutical and agrochemical company presented convincing study data on the anticoagulant Asundexian, for which approval is being sought.

Richard Vosser of JPMorgan wrote in a pharmaceutical industry outlook for 2026 that neither the improvements in Bayer's pharmaceuticals business nor those in its agricultural division were adequately reflected in the share price. The upward trend in these divisions is expected to continue in 2026, which means strong growth prospects for 2027 to 2030. With a target price doubled from €25 to €50, he upgraded the stock from "neutral" to "overweight." Just a few days ago, Morgan Stanley raised its rating to the same level.

Bayer shares rose by a good three percent to €34.35 on Monday, putting them at the top of the DAX. For 2025, this now means a price increase of almost 80 percent. At first glance, this may seem impressive, but for long-term Bayer shareholders, it is probably just a drop in the ocean.

This is because the takeover of the US agricultural chemicals company Monsanto by former Bayer CEO Werner Baumann plunged the Leverkusen-based company into a deep crisis starting in 2018. Under the weight of billion-dollar lawsuits and settlements in the US over alleged cancer risks posed by glyphosate-based weed killers, Bayer shares have been on a long downward slide. By way of comparison, before the first defeat in a glyphosate lawsuit in the summer of 2018, the shares were still trading at around €93, and the record high of €146 in 2015 is even further away.

However, Bill Anderson, who has been at the helm of Bayer since June 2023, now seems to have succeeded in reversing the trend. In addition to significantly streamlining management and business processes, he has made progress in resolving the glyphosate issue.

Bayer can now be more hopeful about a landmark ruling by the highest US court after the Solicitor General – a kind of attorney general for the US government – supported the company's request for the US Supreme Court to review a case. Bayer is hoping for a positive landmark ruling on whether federal law on warning labels for weed killers takes precedence over state law.

Together with the positive study data on Asundexian in the second half of November, this decision by the Solicitor General in early December had driven a recovery rally for Bayer. Since the publication of the Asundexian data, the shares have now gained around a quarter in value./mis/tih/men