Aventis Deal Changes Field in Europe

By choice or by coincidence, three European drug giants will issue their first-quarter earnings reports Thursday, giving investors a chance to see what years -- or even decades -- of mergers and acquisitions have done for their share prices and growth prospects.

All of the companies are products of multiple, mega-mergers. On Wall Street, the verdict on their performance is mixed, as U.S. analysts evaluate the immediate past of stock price performance and the immediate future of recommendations for buying, holding or selling shares.

And in the latest twist, one of the companies, Strasbourg, France-based Aventis (AVE Quote) earlier this week reluctantly agreed to a hostile takeover from rival French drugmaker. Sanofi-Synthelabo,which would create the world's third largest drugmaker. ...