New York, February 8, 2026, 10:56 EST — The market has closed.
- AbbVie ended Friday at $223.43, up 2.0% for the session.
- Moody’s bumped AbbVie’s credit rating up to A2 and moved its outlook to stable.
- Next week, attention remains fixed on how things unfold after Humira, with particular scrutiny on Skyrizi and Rinvoq—demand trends, pricing, the works.
AbbVie Inc finished Friday’s session 2.0% higher at $223.43, notching a better gain than the broader U.S. stock market and staying in step with the rally among major pharma names. (MarketWatch)
This shift lands at a crucial moment: the bond market is back in the driver’s seat. With the company still banking on a handful of blockbuster meds, the cost of funding isn’t just a detail—it touches buybacks, shapes bolt-on M&A, and colors the debate over whether the Humira handoff is holding up or showing cracks.
Moody’s bumped AbbVie’s rating up to A2 from A3 and switched its outlook to stable, no longer positive, citing what it sees as solid performance in both immunology and neuroscience. The agency also raised its rating on AbbVie’s senior unsecured notes, and pushed the commercial paper up to Prime-1. Over the next two to three years, Moody’s projects annual free cash flow after dividends topping $10 billion. It noted leverage triggers tied to debt/EBITDA—a ratio tracking borrowings versus EBITDA. (Investing.com)
That kind of credit language might seem abstract on the equity side. It isn’t. You see it in how fast a company pulls the trigger on deals, how much room it’s got if a major drug runs into trouble, and the way investors value the dividend when rates stick up.
AbbVie shares took a hit earlier last week after the company posted its quarterly numbers, despite projecting 2026 adjusted earnings ahead of Wall Street’s consensus. William Blair’s Matt Phipps flagged “growing competition” weighing on AbbVie’s immunology segment. CFO Scott Reents, speaking to analysts, cautioned that Rinvoq and Skyrizi will face “low-single-digit pricing headwinds”—these two newer therapies are positioned to compensate for falling Humira sales as biosimilars eat into its market. (Reuters)
AbbVie’s neuroscience pipeline drew renewed interest. During the earnings call, chief scientific officer Roopal Thakkar called the company’s DMT-related psychedelic, bretisilocin, a “breakthrough type therapy.” Thakkar noted, per BioSpace, that more Phase 2 data from two cohorts coming this year could influence how AbbVie sets up Phase 3. (BioSpace)
Still, the downside risk lingers. Even with a rating upgrade, price pressures persist, and competition isn’t going anywhere—particularly if payers start driving a harder bargain on immunology or if competitors catch up in similar indications. A misstep in a tightly focused portfolio can slam both the valuation and the story in short order.
Monday’s session will test whether the Moody’s move sparks more momentum and if sentiment around AbbVie’s key immunology franchise shifts. Eyes are already on AbbVie’s upcoming earnings, tentatively set for April 24, which is the next firm date circled by analysts. (zacks.com)
