** Biogen BIIB.O forecast annual profit above Wall Street estimates on Friday, banking on demand for newer medicines and strength of its promising late-stage pipeline to return to revenue growth as older multiple sclerosis drugs battle pressure from cheaper versions

** Average rating of 36 brokerages covering the stock is "buy", median PT is $200.50 - LSEG data

** Stock closed at $201.18 on Friday

NEED TO SEE MORE PIPELINE WINS

** Morgan Stanley ("equal weight," PT: $190) says building pipeline is the focus

** Piper Sandler ("neutral," PT: $177) says continued expansion of Leqembi footprint will not be quite enough to return BIIB to sustainable annual topline growth, given continued heavy exposure to a declining legacy multiple sclerosis segment

** "With that in mind, we continue to view successes associated with the late-stage immunology pipeline as a way for us to get more constructive on the shares" - Piper Sandler

** TD Cowen ("buy," PT: $215) says that while better visibility on a return to top-line growth may be necessary for growth investors to return, "at these levels we see several scenarios for outperformance including an acceleration in Leqembi and/or pipeline success"

** J.P.Morgan ("neutral," PT: $175) says setup for BIIB is gradually improving

(Reporting by Joel Jose in Bengaluru)

((joeljose@thomsonreuters.com))