AMGN posts
FeedPosted Aug 15th 2009 10:30AM by Ted Allrich (RSS feed)
Filed under: Amgen Inc (AMGN), Comfort Zone Investing
Biotechs are fascinating. They have such great promise, yet very few of them actually turn those promises into money. Cures for all types of cancers always seem imminent with promising (there's that word again) results from mice or small control groups. Phase I testing is completed and all kinds of good stuff seems possible. Then something usually happens. Usually not very good things.
Most of the time, it's discovered that what works in mice doesn't work in men (or women). Or that the group was too small for meaningful data and when a larger group is studied, the efficacy isn't there. Or as soon as there's a bounce in the stock price, much more stock is issued and dilution occurs.
Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Beware pretty promises when buying biotechs
Posted Aug 14th 2009 11:30AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Citigroup Inc. (C), Analyst initiations
Analyst upgrades:
- Baird upgraded Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $6 from $5 based on cost trends, valuation, and expectations the company can beat expectations over the next six months.
- Oppenheimer upgraded E-House (NYSE: EJ) to Outperform from Perform following the company's better-than-expected Q2 results. The firm has a price target of $27 on shares.
- JPMorgan upgraded Avery Dennison (NYSE: AVY) to Overweight from Neutral and has a $33 target on the stock. The firm cites valuation for the upgrade following the recent underperformance and expects the company's margins to expand as demand rebounds.
- Citigroup (NYSE: C) was upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill.
- Taubman Centers (NYSE: TCO) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman.
- First Niagara (NASDAQ: FNFG) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AMGN, AVY, C, FMCN, THC ...
Posted Aug 2nd 2009 9:30AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Exxon Mobil (XOM), Walt Disney (DIS), Kellogg Co (K), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Verizon Communications (VZ), Eastman Kodak (EK), RadioShack Corp (RSH), Dow Chemical (DOW), MetLife Inc. (MET)
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Verizon, RadioShack, MetLife, Kellogg, Exxon, Disney ...
Posted Jul 28th 2009 10:20AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Amgen Inc (AMGN)

After the closing bell rang yesterday,
Amgen (NASDAQ:
AMGN) announced a second-quarter profit that
increased 40% compared to a year ago. The company earned $1.29 per share compared to 84 cents per share a year ago. Not only did the pharmaceutical firm top its previous-year results, but it also outpaced the Street's estimated earnings of $1.16 per share.
Quarterly revenue dropped to $3.71 billion from $3.76 billion a year ago, but AMGN still topped the consensus revenue estimate of $3.58 billion. Total product sales for AMGN increased 1% when taking the impact of foreign exchange out of the equation. Looking ahead, AMGN forecast full-year adjusted earnings between $4.80 and $4.95 per share, far better than its earlier forecast of $4.55 to $4.75 per share and the Street's expected $4.57 per share.
Continue reading Amgen's second-quarter earnings increase 40%
Posted Jul 9th 2009 8:30AM by Paul Foster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Amgen Inc (AMGN), Options
Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) closed Wednesday at $59.50. AMGN shares rallied 13% on July 8 after announcing that a pivotal, Phase 3, head-to-head trial evaluating denosumab versus Zometa in the treatment of bone metastases in 2,049 patients with advanced breast cancer met its primary and secondary endpoints and demonstrated superior efficacy compared to Zometa. AMGN is scheduled to report Q2 EPS on July 27. AMGN July option implied volatility is at 32, August is at 36, below its 26-week average of 42, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.
ISE Sentiment Index (ISEE) closed at 109 on 7/8/09. ISEE 10-day moving average is 119.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
Posted Jun 25th 2009 3:10PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Pfizer (PFE), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Amgen Inc (AMGN)
Bit by bit, the IPO market is picking up steam. And, the latest deal hit the markets today: Medidata (NASDAQ: MDSO).
So far, the shares are up 19% $16.70 (the IPO priced at $14, which was above its $11-$13 price range).
Founded about ten years ago, Medidata develops web-based software for clinical trials management. Obviously, it's a big market opportunity.
Keep in mind that a drug costs more than $1 billion to develop. Oh, and the process can easily go beyond a decade. In other words, it's important to streamline the process.
Continue reading Medidata ... an Obama IPO?
Posted Apr 25th 2009 3:40PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Yahoo! (YHOO), eBay (EBAY), Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Amazon.com (AMZN), International Business Machines (IBM), 3M Corporation (MMM), Caterpillar (CAT), Schlumberger Limited (SLB), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Bank of America (BAC), United Parcel'B' (UPS), Merck and Co (MRK), Hasbro Inc (HAS)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Bank of America, Amazon, Coke, eBay, UPS, Yahoo!, IBM, and more
Posted Apr 22nd 2009 8:50AM by Paul Foster (RSS feed)
Filed under: eBay (EBAY), Amgen Inc (AMGN), Options
eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) closed at $14.29. EBAY is scheduled to report Q1 EPS after the market close today. EBAY May option implied volatility of 56 is below its 26-week average of 61, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.
Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) closed at $46.09. AMGN Q1 EPS are expected on April 24. AMGN's Denosumab for treatment/prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis and for bone loss in prostrate or breast cancer patients on hormone ablation therapy has a FDA action date of October 19. AMGN May and July option implied volatility of 44 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
Posted Apr 15th 2009 12:45PM by Daleela Farina (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad news, Marketing and advertising, Next big thing, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Procter and Gamble (PG), Merck and Co (MRK), Amgen Inc (AMGN)

When a $7 a share biotechnology company like
Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ:
DNDN) rockets 200% to over $20 a share in one day, like it did yesterday after reporting
successful Phase 3 trials of its prostate cancer drug, investors get interested in any biotech stock under $10.
But before investing in these speculative companies, you should have a clear understanding of how this niche operates. Marketing plays an important role in order for the companies to raise capital, therefore if you are interested in betting on a company's future, you should consider the risk factors and odds of success.
Continue reading Should you invest in low priced biotech stocks like Dendreon?
Posted Feb 27th 2009 10:10AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Market matters, Target Corp. (TGT), Aetna Inc (AET), Procter and Gamble (PG), Amgen Inc (AMGN), Limited Brands (LTD), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Northrop Grumman (NOC)
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says if you need money for anything important in the near future, get it out of the stock market. Fall back. Fall back to basic principles. What do people have to do whether they want to do it or not? What do governments have to pay for whether they want something or not? What must be used whether you like it or not?
That's where we are right now in the helter-skelter pell-mell race to take all stocks to single digits as the notion of a worldwide global depression sinks in.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't need stocks? Don't own 'em
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