CompanyGraph
Makes generic versions of off-patent drugs, with one multiple sclerosis drug that competitors cannot copy.
- Returns appear driven by leverage
- Earnings significantly exceed cash generation
- Depends onUpstream position: supplies 5 industries, depends on 0
- ScaleMarket cap is higher than 95% of all stocks globally
- FinancialsAltman Z-Score: distress zone
- Interpretations2 currently firing — 1 · 1
What this company is and how it runs — written from structure, not news.
Teva takes molecules whose patents have expired, proves to the FDA that its versions behave identically to the original branded drugs, and ships those generics to pharmacies, hospitals, and government health programs at lower prices. For most of its generic portfolio, competitors can do the same thing — but glatiramer acetate, its multiple sclerosis drug sold as Copaxone, is different, because the molecule is not a single defined chemical structure but a mixture of peptides whose identity is determined by the exact lyophilization and sterile-fill conditions inside Teva's facility in Kfar Saba, Israel. Any company trying to make a biosimilar version must match that stochastic mixture, and because the FDA measures biosimilar applications against Teva's own reference product, a competitor cannot succeed just by buying the same equipment — they must reproduce a proprietary manufacturing outcome in a separately validated facility, which takes 18 to 24 months even if they knew every parameter. The same fact that makes the position strong makes it fragile: if the Kfar Saba facility loses FDA certification for any reason, there is no other approved site to which production can move within a commercially useful timeframe.
How does this company make money?
Teva sells generic drugs by the unit to large drug wholesalers — McKesson and AmerisourceBergen — at contracted prices. It also sells specialty drugs, including Copaxone, directly to specialty pharmacies and hospitals. When it licenses its manufacturing technology to regional partners for biosimilar production, it collects licensing fees on top of those sales.
What makes this company hard to replace?
Pharmacy benefit managers who want to swap in a different generic supplier face a 6 to 12 month requalification process required by FDA Orange Book rules. Hospital formulary committees must complete clinical reviews before they can substitute a complex generic like glatiramer acetate. State Medicaid programs lock in their preferred suppliers through annual contracting cycles, so even if a cheaper option appeared, switching would take until the next contract year.
What limits this company?
Teva cannot simply redirect production to a bigger or spare factory when one gets overloaded. Every pairing of a drug and a facility must be separately approved by the FDA, and that process takes 18 to 24 months and cannot be rushed. So the total amount Teva can produce at any moment is capped by the number of pre-approved factory-and-drug combinations already in place — not by how much floor space they own.
What does this company depend on?
Teva cannot operate without FDA ANDA approvals for each generic drug it sells. It relies on active pharmaceutical ingredient suppliers in India and China for raw materials. Its manufacturing facilities in Debrecen, Hungary and Kfar Saba, Israel must hold current Good Manufacturing Practice certification at all times. It also needs European Medicines Agency marketing authorizations to sell across the EU.
Who depends on this company?
CVS Health and Walgreens pharmacies depend on Teva's supply to fill generic prescriptions — a disruption would create shortages on their shelves. Medicare Part D plans rely on low-cost generics like Teva's to keep their drug coverage affordable. Multiple sclerosis patients who use the Copaxone biosimilar depend on consistent supply from Teva's Israeli facility. Amneal Pharmaceuticals uses Teva's contract manufacturing for specific molecules and would lose that production capacity if Teva stopped.
How does this company scale?
Once Teva has built regulatory expertise, filing new ANDA applications and running bioequivalence studies for additional generic drugs is relatively cheap and repeatable. But physical production cannot grow beyond existing certified facilities, because each new drug-factory combination requires 18 to 24 months of separate FDA validation before a single unit can ship. Knowledge scales easily; factory capacity does not.
What external forces can significantly affect this company?
Teva faces large ongoing cash obligations from U.S. opioid litigation settlements. In Europe, government health budgets are under pressure, and authorities are forcing generic drug prices down by mandate. In China, environmental crackdowns periodically disrupt the factories that supply active pharmaceutical ingredients, which raises costs and threatens raw material availability.
Where is this company structurally vulnerable?
If the Kfar Saba facility in Israel failed an FDA inspection and lost its manufacturing certification — or if geopolitical disruption cut off access to the site — Teva could not move glatiramer acetate production anywhere else in time to matter. No other facility holds the product-specific FDA approval, and earning one would take 18 to 24 months. The thing that makes Copaxone defensible is exactly the thing that makes it fragile: the drug and the building are one regulatory unit.
Price is read as structure — trend, levels, range, peak and volatility drawn on the chart. It does not predict where price goes next.
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Sign in1 interpretation currently present — each is a set of fired observations whose alignment reads as one structural pattern. Click an observation to see the numbers behind it.
Screen for these patternsHow is this stock behaving?
Close In Upper Portion Of Recent Range, Bollinger Bands, And RSI
Current close sits in the upper portion of the 14-week high-low range; current close sits in the upper portion of its 20-week Bollinger Bands; RSI sits above its 20-week recent mean (Bollinger %B applied to RSI).
An interpretation is present only while every observation it reads stays fired (score ≥ 70). It describes what the aligned readings show — never a verdict, never a prediction.
The reported statements, read against the company's own industry.
- Returns appear driven by leverage
- Earnings significantly exceed cash generation
1 interpretation currently present — each is a set of fired observations whose alignment reads as one structural pattern. Click an observation to see the numbers behind it.
Screen for these patternsIs this company financially stable?
Debt Falling While Share Count Rises
Long-term debt has been falling year-over-year while the share count has been rising on an 8-year compound basis. Absolute financing cash flow is large relative to operating cash flow. The pattern is consistent with equity-funded deleveraging, though the third observation measures total financing activity without isolating equity from debt or buybacks.
An interpretation is present only while every observation it reads stays fired (score ≥ 70). It describes what the aligned readings show — never a verdict, never a prediction.
Shared structure with peers — never a ranking.
Structural observations derived from financial data, industry benchmarks, and supply chain position.
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