The brokerage firm, Goldman Sachs has released its latest report on the Indian pharma sector. It has highlighted five key stocks that are poised for an upmove over the next 12 months. According to the brokerage, the chosen companies are not only capitalising on global shifts in healthcare manufacturing and outsourcing but also staying focused on niche segments, innovation, and long-term partnerships.

Let’s take a look at the brokerage stock picks and why each has made the cut.

Goldman Sachs on Piramal Pharma

Piramal Pharma topped the list with a ‘Buy’ rating and a target price of Rs 265, the highest upside potential of 36% among the four stocks.

The company’s CDMO business is central to this optimism. While FY26 may see some slowdown due to inventory destocking, “the business will recover back to normal levels in FY27 on the back of materialisation of various multi-year supply orders,” as per the brokerage.

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With two new manufacturing suites added at its Grangemouth site and the ability to expand further, the company is positioning itself to double its CDMO revenue by FY30. “The company remains confident of doubling its CDMO business revenues by FY30 as it believes it remains conservative in forecasting,” the report noted.

Goldman Sachs on Aurobindo Pharma

Aurobindo Pharma has been rated Buy as well, with a target price of Rs 1,275, suggesting an upside of 16% as per the brokerage report.

Goldman Sachs is betting on Aurobindo Pharma, citing India’s competitive edge in cost efficiency, especially when it comes to biologics and biosimilars. According to the brokerage, “India is ~60% lower than the aforementioned level as over the past 8-10 years the costs in China/ Korea have risen meaningfully.”

The report further noted that Aurobindo’s biologics arm, TheraNym (a subsidiary of CuraTeQ), is working exclusively with MSD until 2030-2032, and that “the company may be able to deliver 30-40 million vials in Phase-1” once occupancy levels rise.

Goldman Sachs on Syngene International

Syngene International has been given a ‘Buy’ rating by Goldman Sachs with a 12-month target price of Rs 800, indicating an upside potential of 27%.

According to the brokerage, “After a difficult H2FY24/ H1FY25, Syngene started witnessing greenshoots in the form of heightened enquiries coming through again in H2FY25 mainly driven by big pharma.”

The company is also benefiting from global pharma’s strategy of shifting outsourcing away from China. Goldman Sachs highlighted that Syngene has been receiving several pilot projects from pharma clients who are exploring diversification, and some of these are already converting into long-term contracts. While biotech funding remains uncertain, the outlook for Syngene’s discovery business is improving, with a return to double-digit growth expected in FY26.

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Goldman Sachs on Neuland Labs

Neuland Labs received a buy rating with a target price of Rs 14,775, implying an upside of 21% over the next 12 months. According to the brokerage, Neuland’s strength lies in “strong quality culture, systems, infrastructure and process development capabilities.”

Unlike many of its peers, the company has decided not to venture into animal health or agro-chemical platforms, preferring to deepen its capabilities in human pharmaceuticals. The brokerage values the stock using a sum-of-the-parts (SoTP) approach, giving it a 12-month price target of Rs 14,775. “We arrive at a 12m TP based 85% on Q5 to Q8 P/E-based SoTP and 15% on P/E-based theoretical M&A valuation (~42x), implying a target multiple of ~37x,” the report stated.

Goldman Sachs on Cohance Lifesciences

The brokerage assigned a ‘Buy’ rating and a 12-month target price of Rs 1,275 on Cohance Lifesciences. This implies an upside of 29%. According to the brokerage report, the company has been gaining traction in recent years, particularly due to rising demand from global pharma innovators looking to diversify away from China.

The report highlighted that the number of Requests for Quotations (RFQs) received by the company has nearly doubled. “Management specifically highlighted that every innovator has / is trying to build a China+1 strategy irrespective of whether they would have publicly announced one or not,” as per the brokerage report.