The new ParentDish: helping raise kids of all ages

AOL Money & Finance

Gilead Sciences likes taking the lead in the sector

Readers of this space know that biotech and pharmaceutical companies are not the preferred investment candidates, but there exceptions to the rule, and Gilead Sciences is one.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) is a biopharmaceutical company that concentrates on the research, development, and marketing of anti-infective medications with a primary focus on treatments for HIV.

In general, analysts see Gilead registering 25-30% revenue growth in FY 2008, following solid, double-digit gains in FY 2007. Further, Gilead should also register market share gains for HIV drugs, offsetting likely royalty revenue declines for Tamiflu, in the immediate years ahead.

Meanwhile, expenses remain above-average, but still acceptable for a biopharmaceutical company, and GILD's fundamentals remain among the strongest in the biotech sector. The Reuters FY 2008/FY 2009 EPS consensus estimates for are $1.92 to $2.22.

The risks? Analysts are keeping an eye on Gilead's pipeline development and roll-out timetable. Further, a slowdown in GILD's HIV product sales would also hurt the company's results.

The First Call mean rating for GILD is: Buy [32 firms]. Mean 2008 target: $55 [high: $60, low: $47].

Stock Analysis: Gilead Sciences is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for low-risk investors. Investors with an investment horizon longer than 2 years should be rewarded from GILD's shares. Sell/Stop Loss if you were to purchase shares in this company: $34.

Disclosure: Lazzaro has no positions in stocks. In addition to private real estate holdings, he owns corporate and municipal bonds, and cash certificates of deposit.

Related Posts

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.

New Users

Current Users

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+73.0311,288.54
NASDAQ-6.082,245.38
S&P 500+1.381,262.90

Last updated: July 05, 2008: 12:09 AM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

BloggingStocks Featured Video

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

AOL Business News

Latest from BloggingBuyouts

Sponsored Links

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

Weblogs, Inc. Network