New York, January 8, 2026, 05:14 (EST) — Premarket
- ABBV down about 1.6% in premarket trade
- Company denies report of talks to buy Revolution Medicines
- Filing flags $1.3 billion acquired IPR&D charge; earnings due Feb. 4
AbbVie Inc (ABBV) shares slipped 1.6% to about $229.64 in premarket trading on Thursday after the drugmaker denied it was in talks to buy cancer biotech Revolution Medicines and cut its 2025 profit view. Revolution’s stock fell 11.5% in extended trading after AbbVie’s statement, Reuters reported.
The whiplash matters because AbbVie has become a deal story again, and the market is quick to mark it up or down on anything that hints at the next growth lever. The company is due to report full-year and fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 4, before the market opens, and will hold a webcast later that morning.
AbbVie closed up 4.24% at $233.42 on Wednesday, bucking a weaker broader tape and drawing heavy volume, a sign the rumor hit real money as well as fast traders. That leaves the shares not far from their highs, and it raises the stakes for any new detail on spending, guidance and pipeline cadence.
The Wall Street Journal reported AbbVie was in advanced discussions to acquire Revolution Medicines, putting a potential valuation around $20 billion after a typical premium. AbbVie publicly denied it was in discussions, the paper said.
In a Form 8-K filing, AbbVie said fourth-quarter 2025 results are expected to include $1.3 billion in acquired IPR&D and milestone expense on a pre-tax basis, knocking about $0.71 per share off both GAAP and adjusted profit. It now expects full-year 2025 adjusted EPS of $9.90 to $9.94 and fourth-quarter adjusted EPS of $2.61 to $2.65, while warning the numbers are preliminary. Acquired IPR&D, or in-process research and development, is an accounting charge tied to buying or licensing drug programs, often early-stage, that can hit earnings in one lump.
Back in late October, AbbVie lifted its 2025 adjusted EPS outlook to $10.61 to $10.65, while excluding any acquired IPR&D and milestone costs beyond the third quarter because it said the timing is hard to forecast. The new range effectively bakes in another quarter of that expense.
On the Street, UBS analyst Michael Yee raised his price target to $240 from $220 on Jan. 7 while keeping a neutral rating, according to Benzinga data. The change puts the target only modestly above where the stock last closed.
The stock’s latest regular-session range — $224.74 to $237.04 — shows how quickly it can swing when headlines hit, even before fundamentals move. Premarket prices still leave it below the top of its 52-week range, with the high listed at $244.81.
But there is a catch: these deal-linked charges can show up fast and they can repeat, muddying what “underlying” earnings look like from one quarter to the next. If investors start to assume more one-off items are coming, the stock’s dividend story and steady-drugmaker label won’t carry as much weight.
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