NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Two research firms differed on AbbVie's (ABBV) - Get Report acquisition of Pharmacyclics (PCYC) , with Piper Jaffray saying that AbbVie paid far too much in the deal and Deutsche Bank contending that the purchase is positive for AbbVie.

BACKGROUND: AbbVie agreed to buy Pharmacyclics for $261.25 per share, or $21B, the companies announced late last night. Pharmacyclics' flagship product is Imbruvica, a treatment for hematologic cancers, that it co-markets with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Get Report.

BEARISH TAKE: Noting that J&J has 50% rights to Imbruvica, Piper analyst Joshua Schimmer wrote that the price that AbbVie paid would have been reasonable if its was obtaining full rights to Imbruvica. It will take many years for the deal to generate enough cash to justify the price that Abbvie paid, the analyst stated. Moreover, given the large number of potential competitors to Imbruvica in development and the possibility that a more potent treatment for hematological cancers will be introduced, the confidence that AbbVie showed in Pharmacyclics may be overdone, Schimmer indicated.

BULLISH TAKE: Conversely, Deutsche Bank analyst Robyn Karnauskas believes that the deal is positive for AbbVie, since she thinks that it provides the drug maker with revenue growth in the near-term and diversifies its business beyond Humira, its treatment for Crohn's disease and psoriasis. However, Karnauskas did add that from a purely valuation perspective the deal is only neutral for AbbVie. She predicted, though, that the deal would start increasing AbbVie's profits beginning in 2017. The transaction could add 18%-19% to AbbVie's earnings per share in 2020-2021, estimated Karnauskas, who kept an $80 price target and Buy rating on AbbVie.

PRICE ACTION: In mid-morning trading, AbbVie fell 3.3% to $58.26 and Pharmacyclics jumped 10.5% to $254.74.

Reporting by Larry Ramer.

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