Michael Waterhouse, Senior Equity Analyst 3/21/16Despite near-term pain, Valeant should eventually be able to move past specialty pharmacy issues. Valeant's aggressive acquisition strategy has been executed nearly flawlessly, but recent concerns over the company's aggressive use of specialty pharmacies and price increases combined with the ability to pay debt has tarnished the company's image. Despite the stock's terrific run since Pearson took over, Valeant's questionable relationship with specialty pharmacies, especially Philidor, has raised concerns over wrongdoing and weak internal controls. These concerns, combined with Valeant's high debt level, have placed the company under severe pressure, but we think new product launches, the new distribution partnership with Walgreens, and improving cash flow in 2016 should begin to clean up the company's financial position as long as the 7% of sales affected by specialty pharmacies doesn't lead to further issues in the remainder of the business. Valeant's ability to continue consolidating competitors, slash unproductive research and development, and leverage its existing infrastructure depends largely on management's ability to address current concerns of fraud and improve financial leverage. Valeants ability to consolidate markets, leverage its sales force, and cut unnecessary R&D and overhead expenses has led to an extremely efficient business with EBITDA margin consistently close to 50%. In 2008, Valeant was the eleventh-largest player in dermatology, with less than 1% market share. Now, through nearly a dozen acquisitions, it has become the leading player, with market share of 15%-20% and sales 50% higher than the second-place competitor. We also think the acquisitions of Bausch & Lomb and Salix have increased Valeants exposure to more attractive therapeutic markets of ophthalmology and gastrointestinal, respectively. We still believe opportunities exist for Valeant long term, especially as management continues to seek assets with little pricing pressure from managed-care and government payers. Although not particularly innovative, Valeant does maintain a large pipeline of internally developed line extension and formulation improvements that should help defend key franchises, including contact lenses and OTC products.