Top BioHealth Investor Calls of the Month

Top BioHealth Research Calls of the Week (MNKD, PDLI, ILMN, CLDA, MRK, PFE, LLY, BMY, ALXN, SVNT, AMGN)

January 22, 2011 · Filed Under Financial, analyst calls, fda · Comment 

There were some key research calls in biotech and biohealth shares this week.  Over in our “top five analyst calls of the week” at 24/7 Wall Street we noted how one firm came out in defense of MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) on its implosion this week and another call was highlighting the potential upside value that remains in PDL BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDLI) despite its patent fight concerns.  There were many other standout calls though in analyst coverage this last week in biohealth:

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) has remained impressive after having been one of our “Best of Big BioHealth in 2010″ and was also at the start of the year listed as “an overvalued biohealth names with peers.” This week brought an analyst duel.  Citigroup raised its rating to BUY from Hold and the new price target is $85.00 per share.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $66.87 and the Citi target appears to be the street-high price target.  Elsewhere, RBC Capital Markets lowered the rating to Sector Perform from Outperform due to valuation.  Illumina’s 52-week range is $34.25 to $71.07, and at $68.75 it has a market cap now of $8.6 billion.

Clinical Data Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDA) will be one to watch this coming week after the FDA approved its antidepressant drug to be sold under the brand name Viibyrd.  Shares closed at $15.03 on Friday but were much higher after the news and the 52-week trading range is $10.87 to $22.39.  What is interesting is that analysts already see peak sales above $2 billion as this antidepressant is believed to not interfere with sexual desire as much as in some rival drugs. The consensus price target is already $29.67 per Thomson Reuters data.

This week came a standout call in Big Pharma from Wells Fargo as the firm raised the sector to “Overweight.”  Wells Fargo raised Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) to Outperform ratings and also noted Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) in the call.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) closed the week out at $84.43 and has a 52-week range of $44.86 to $87.14.  There was an analyst duel this week.  Gleacher & Co. raised its rating to Buy while UBS cut its rating to Hold.

Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVNT) hit new 52-week lows this last week and closed at $10.20 versus a 52-week range of $10.16 to $23.46.  Its shares were downgraded to “Underperform” over at Bank of America Merrill Lynch after previous news in its business update of reports of batch failures with its new gout medication called Krystexxa.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is set to report earnings on Monday and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.10 EPS and $3.8 billion in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $1.31 EPS and $3.67 billion in revenues. At $56.97 shares are actually down slightly from 90-days ago and the 52-week range is $50.26 to $61.26.  This stock is getting toward its higher end of a 3 year trading band, so we expect that analyst will have to make some adjustments after earnings.  Thomson Reuters has an average price target above $65.00 currently.

At the end of December, we gave a list of Big Biotechs With the Most Upside in 2011.

Novartis Gains FDA Approval For Oral MS Drug

Image via WikipediaNovartis is now a game changer in MS market. Novartis is usually known for their vaccines, is the first in the oral pill MS drug market. Top News from Novartis as MS drug, Gelenya was approved from the FDA Monday.

Wikinvest: Novartis AG (NVS)

Ariad and Cyclacel To Start Clinical Trials for Blood Cancer Drugs for Leukemia

Image via Wikipedia From The Street's Adam Feuerstein

Ariad, Cyclacel To Start Key Drug Trials


Stock quotes in this article:ARIA, CYCC, SGEN, NVS, BMY

Comprehensive List of Drug Approvals From 2009

Image by boodoo via Flickr I found a nice list of all the drugs approved in 2009 and their respectable companies.

Those of note were Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) with HPV vaccine, H1N1, seasonal flu vaccine, renal carcinoma, and lymphocyte leukemia.

Novartis (NVS) for H1N1, seasonal flu vaccine, MS, malaria, and schizophrenia.

Schering-Plough, now Merck (MRK) , for schizophrenia. Schering was bought out for their extensive drug pipeline of numerous upcoming drugs.

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) had an antiarrhythmic drug, along with another flu vaccine for elderly patients. Sanofi is getting snuffed out with the Genzyme takeover bid but the bidding could still continue.

Others included Takeda Pharmaceuticals (TKPHF), Cypress Biosciences/Forest Labs, Allos Therapeutics, Lilly/Daiichi Sankyo, Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, and Theravance.

FDA Advisory Panels Recommends Fewer Drugs This Year

Image via Wikipedia It has been a rough year for Drug Candidates this year. Time after time FDA panels are rejecting more qualified drug approvals. So what really is going on here. Are drug up for FDA approval less safe, less effective, or are the panels more cautious on approvals. These panels have had a devastating effect on the company's stock after these No recommendations. Let's take a closer look into what's really going on.

FDA Advisory Panels: A Coin Flip