"Of all the stocks that I follow and recommend, there is one stock above all others that I have favored for years, and still do: Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD)," says biotechnology sector expert Michael Shulman.

In his industry-leading ChangeWave Biotech Investor, he explains, "I have owned it for a very-long time and it is fast-growing and rock solid among all of the market uncertainty. When that uncertainty ends, GILD will still be a fast-grower in a recessionary economy."

"The company is a commanding market leader in HIV treatments, sells and collects royalties on other antivirals for flu and Hepatitis B. Gilead recently announced earnings and it had profits of $402 million or 41 cents a share, topping analyst estimates by a penny. It also saw sales grow 22% to $1.1 billion. Despite several product launches and increased clinical trial expenses, the company's cash position doubled to $2.7 billion.

"On a conference call, management said that 2008 would be a very good year, with product sales in the range of $4.7 billion to $4.8 billion. That's more than a 25% increase over 2007 product sales and higher than analyst expectations of $4.6 billion.

"Growth was driven by HIV drug sales, which were up 35% last quarter to $864 million. Management does not guide profit expectations, but the Street has those profits at around $1.88 billion, and Gilead has beaten expectations 14 out of the last 15 quarters.

Continue reading Gilead (GILD): 'A great company with big catalysts'

Gilead (GILD): 'A great company with big catalysts' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.