ADRs End Slightly Higher; Teva, Ryanair, SAP Trade Actively

International stocks trading in New York closed slightly higher on Thursday.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts rose 0.7% to 159.62. The European index increased 0.6% to 146.49. The Asian index increased 0.5% to 191.62. The Latin American index increased 1.8% to 263.77. And the emerging-markets index rose 0.6% to 343.88.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYAAY), and SAP SE (SAP) were among those with ADRs that traded actively.

Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva has begun settlement talks with Ohio concerning the state's lawsuit alleging illegal marketing of opioid painkillers, according to the state's attorney general. The state is also engaged in talks with Johnson & Johnson. Ohio was one of the first states to sue opioid-painkiller makers, alleging they fueled the opioid-addiction crisis by misrepresenting the benefits and addictive risks of their painkillers. The companies have denied the allegations and said they are committed to the safe and medically appropriate use of the drugs. ADRs of Teva rose 8.5% to $21.74.

Ireland-based Ryanair's stock was upgraded by UBS to buy from neutral because of positive consumer sentiment and the likelihood of Ryanair returning about 22% of its market capitalization to shareholders over the next three years. The Swiss bank also says that although Ryanair's costs are increasing, it believes the budget airline will continue to have the lowest cost per unit compared with peers Wizz Air and easyJet. ADRs of Ryanair rose 3.2% to $112.82.

Consensus forecasts suggest Germany-based SAP's cloud and software businesses should deliver at least 8% revenue growth in 2018, a figure Morgan Stanley analysts deem "at the high end of what is reasonable." Since such consensus expectations are above the upper end of SAP's initial guidance in both 2016 and 2017, the analysts lower the German company's rating to equalweight from overweight and cut its target price to EUR105 from EUR111. Morgan Stanley adds that SAP's margins aren't likely to expand in a significant way until 2019. ADRs of SAP dropped 2.9% to $109.64.

Write to Aisha Al-Muslim at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 11, 2018 17:45 ET (22:45 GMT)

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