Novartis AG proposed buying back $5 billion of shares and said it’s considering separating its embattled eye-care division after projecting that sales this year at Europe’s second-biggest drugmaker will likely be largely unchanged from 2016. Earnings, excluding some expenses, will probably remain flat or decline by a “low single digit” percent in 2017 as its top-selling medicine faces increasing competition from cheaper copycat drugs, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said Wednesday in a statement.