Diverse product portfolio, with solid positions in pharmaceuticals and nutritionals; Productive R&D pipeline, with a number of promising near-term prospects; and Long-standing modest financial risk profile, with ample liquidity. Significant proportion of current revenues lose market exclusivity in three years; and Reliance on in-licensing to bolster portfolio results in operating margins that trail pharmaceutical peers. The ratings on New York, N.Y.-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) reflect the company's diverse pharmaceutical product portfolio, the challenge of an approaching "patent cliff", and a modest financial risk profile. Beginning early in 2008, BMS began a program of divestitures to better focus on its more profitable drug franchise and transform itself into a midsized biopharma company. In the first half of 2008, the company
