Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) opened at $81.24. So far today the stock has hit a low of $80.48 and a high of $82.17. As of 10:45, GILD is trading at 81.85, up 1.21 (1.5%).

The stock made a strong push in early spring to reach the low 80's and a one year high of 84.47 in May. The US Government has recently been ramping up efforts to fight against any future potential flu pandemic, including awarding multi-million dollar contracts to Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) and MedImmune (NASDAQ: MEDI) to increase their capacity to produce flu vaccines. GILD, maker of Tamiflu, could stand to benefit from such efforts as well. Recent technical indicators for GILD have been bullish but deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock a 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an August bull-put credit spread below the $70 range. GILD hasn't been below $70 since January and has shown support around $78 recently. This trade could be risky if the FDA finds trouble with one of GILD's drugs, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support around $70 combined with its 200 day moving average, which is currently at $71 and rising.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. Do you have any deadwood in your portfolio? Check out the 18 Warning Signs That Tell You When To Dump A Stock.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls a position in GILD or MEDI. He does control a bullish hedged position in SNY.

"If you combine the growth of a small company with the financial muscle of a large company and put them in a single syringe, you get Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD)," says Jon Markman.

Gilead, he notes, which develops and markets drugs for patients suffering from HIV, Hepatitis B and other life-threatening illnesses, is an emerging giant of the biotech world." Indeed, the company is best known for its leading HIV treatments.

In his Strategic Advantage, the advisor says, "I like their current drug portfolio, but I am just as impressed with its pipeline of new therapies. In the first quarter of 2007, GILD reported a earnings growth of 55%, with sales of Hepsera, a hepatitis drug, up 35%."

He notes that sales of HIV drugs rose by 56%. He adds, "The picture for the rest of the year and 2008 look equally bright for GILD, as it has quite a number of similarly strong drug candidates in trials."

Meanwhile, he observes, the company has just come into the spotlight again due to new scientific findings about Ambrisentan, a drug created to treat Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. He explains, "PAH, as it is known to docs, creates an increase in blood pressure in patients' arteries."

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Borders Group Inc (NYSE: BGP), Cache Inc (NASDAQ: CACH) and Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: GILD) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Borders Group was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, as the firm believes a merger with Barnes & Noble Inc (NYSE: BKS) is less likely following the FTC's decision to oppose the Whole Foods Market Inc (NASDAQ: WFMI) and Wild Oats Markets Inc (NASDAQ: OATS) deal.
• Cache was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Soleil, as the firm recommends staying on the sidelines until execution improves. Merriman also downgraded shares, to Neutral from Buy, to reflect the company's outlook for the remainder of FY07. Merriman believes upside may be limited until Cache can show consistently improved sales and earnings results.
• Gilead Sciences was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank and to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse citing high expectations for the company and little room to beat Street estimates.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Merrill Lynch downgraded shares of Adams Respiratory Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ARXT), Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc (NYSE: PRX) and Sepracor Inc (NASDAQ: SEPR) to Neutral from Buy.
• First Albany downgraded shares of Volterra Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: VLTR) to Buy from Strong Buy.
  
• ThinkEquity downgraded shares of Cree Inc (NASDAQ: CREE) to Sell from Accumulate.
• Morgan Keegan downgraded shares of Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ: PNRA) to Market Perform and Outperform following weak same-store-sales and guidance.

Following its latest earnings report, Bill Martin notes, "Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) has shown once again showed that its HIV drug franchise is truly best-in-class."

The editor of the FindProfit trading service reports that Gilead earned a profit of $407.4 million, or 85 cents per share. Excluding stock-based compensation, he notes, EPS was 93 cents.

He also notes that analysts were looking for EPS of 80 cents per share. Meanwhile, revenues jumped 49% to $1.03 billion from $692.9 million a year ago, and above the consensus of $990 million.

The advisor explains, "Gilead saw great overall growth among its anti-HIV drugs. Truvada, which accounted for 41% of GILD's product sales, led the way with a 39% year-over-year increase in sales."

He points out that Atripla is the combination of Bristol-Myers Squibb's Sustiva and Gilead's Truvada. The latter is a combination of Gilead drugs, Emtriva and Viread.

Martin notes, "The continued solid growth of Truvada sales after the launch of Atripla indicates that this drug may not totally cannibalize the sales of Truvada and GILD's other older anti-HIV drugs."

Meanwhile, the advisor notes that the overall biotech sector has been making a "nice comeback of late," and GILD has been a strong performer. He says, "With management leaving its conservative guidance intact, we think the stock has room to 'surprise' to the upside later this year.

He also sees the stock as defensive and notes, "If the economy is showing signs of peaking, a stock like GILD is a good candidate to outperform the market."

For more stock picks from the leading financial newsletter advisors, visit Steven Halpern's free daily website, TheStockAdvisors.com.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) was founded a short 20 years ago in the Bay Area-near San Francisco. I say short 20 years, because this company has accomplished so much in this time period. GILD is a $3.9 billion revenue company this year and is expected to put up $4.7-4.8 billion in 2008. By any measure, excellent growth on the top line. The bottom line calls for $$2.90 per share this year, growing to $3.30 per share for 2008. Many will argue this 2008 number is very, very conservative.

What makes Gilead so special? They have the right drug therapies for some nasty afflictions. Gilead offers three major drugs for the treatment of HIV. The most recent FDA approved drug is Atripla, which is a once a day pill for HIV patients. GILD also owns the major part of the Hepatitis B market with Hepsera. Gilead is the maker of Tamiflu which treats influenza. Tamiflu is being stock piled by the US government in the event of a bird-flu pandemic. But general practitioners may also prescribes Tamiflu.

GILD is also deeply involved in age-related macular degeneration, which is a horrible eyesight affliction. The drug Macugen is another blockbuster treating this wicked disease. The company has many other potential drugs in various stages of clinical trials, the lifeline of future growth.

GILD will be a leader in the bio tech field for many years to come. The first 20 years as one major portfolio manager told me "was nothing compared to their future". On this name, Jim Cramer is spot on!!

Georges Yared is the author of "Stop Losing Money Today" and "Baby Boomer Investing...Where do we go from here?"

Bill Martin, editor of FindProfit recently added Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) to his long-term growth portfolio, and the stock has risen sharply following a strong fourth quarter report.

According to Martin, the company saw particular strength in its HIV franchise. He explains, "Gilead's HIV treatments (Viread, Truvada, Atripla, and Emtriva) were clear winners, with sales growing 67% to $642.4 million and surpassing Wall Street's expectation of $628.7 million in sales."

Although the company reported a net loss of $1.67 billion, or -$3.62 per share, for the quarter, the advisor explains that by backing out a charge of $2.04 billion for its acquisitions of Corus and Myogen, the company actually earned a profit of 78 cents per share versus 59 cents per share a year ago.

Also for the quarter, he notes that revenue jumped 48% year over year to $899.2 million. These results, he points out, "handily" beat analyst expectations of 68 cents EPS on revenue of $850.9 million.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) opened today at $69.94. So far, the stock has hit a low of $69.51 and a high of $70.50. As of 9:57 this morning, GILD was trading at $70.20, up $5.88 (9.14%) on extremely heavy volume.

After hitting a one year low of $52.55 on May 19, 2006, the stock worked its way up to a peak of $70.00 on November 20 2006. Yesterday the company reported adjusted quarterly profit that beat Wall Street expectations. The technicals for Gilead have been deteriorating lately and S&P gives GILD a cautious 3 STAR (out of 5) hold rating with a current 12-Month target price of $70.

For a quick bullish hedged play on GILD, I would consider February bull-put spread below the $67.50 level.

Vic Schiller is an analyst on the move at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE NOTE: Mr. Schiller owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.