BioTech-Index seit März:
Genentech/Nasdaq/BioTech-Index übereinandergelegt:
Man beachte, wo Genentech den Kursverfall stoppen konnte...Im Point&Figure-Chart hat man ein Tief bei 152, eine Trendwende könnte sich also anbahnen.
Genentech alleine:
UPDATE 3-Genentech operating profits rise, shares fall
(adds company comments, updates stock price)
By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES, July 17 (Reuters) - Biotechnology firm
Genentech Inc. on Monday reported a 7 percent gain in
second-quarter operating profits, meeting Wall Street
estimates, on higher sales of its Rituxan and Herceptin cancer
drugs.
Still, shares of Genentech, based in South San Francisco,
Calif., were down 7-1/4, or nearly 5 percent, at 154-1/4 in
late afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange amid
concerns about slower-than-expected sales growth of Herceptin,
the company`s breast cancer drug.
The biotech bellwether said its operating income rose to
$78.2 million, or 29 cents a share, from $73.2 million, or 27
cents, in the year-ago quarter. Wall Street analysts had
expected the company to earn 29 cents a share, according to
First Call/Thomson Financial, which tracks analysts` forecasts.
"It was a solid quarter. Genentech is still a very
attractive stock, just not a particularly inexpensive one,"
said Eric Schmidt, an analyst at SG Cowen Securities Corp.
Genentech`s quarterly profit increase was before the
ongoing impact of the redemption by majority-owner Roche
Holding AG of Genentech stock.
As a result of redemption-related charges, the company
recorded a net loss for the second quarter of $14.2 million, or
5 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $923.2 million, or
$3.59 a share, for the second quarter of 1999.
Schmidt noted that there was some disappointment with sales
Herceptin -- year on year quarterly sales rose 44 percent to
near $67 million, compared with analysts` estimates in the
range of $71-73 million. Compared with first quarter 2000,
sales actually fell about 3 percent.
A spokeswoman for Genentech attributed the dip to first
quarter stockpiling of the drug overseas, which resulted in
lower demand in those markets during the second quarter. "Sales
of Herceptin are in line with our expectations for the quarter
and for the year," spokeswoman Sabrina Johnson said.
She said U.S. sales of the drug were up 10 percent from the
first quarter and 47 percent from the same 1999 quarter,
although actual dollar figures were not available.
Schmidt also said the "news flow" from Genentech was likely
to slow down for the remainder of the year, compared with the
first half, when company announcements included regulatory
approval of heart attack treatment TNKase, initial shipments of
new growth hormone drug Nutropin Depot and a regulatory
applications for asthma and allergy treatment anti-IgE.
Overall, Genentech`s pro-forma revenues for the quarter
rose 10 percent to $413.7 million, driven primarily by sales
Herceptin and another cancer drug, Rituxan. The company said
sales were also lifted by gains on the sale of certain
marketable equity securities.
Second-quarter sales of Rituxan, used to treat patients
with non-Hodgkin`s lymphoma, rose 38 percent to $102.8 million
from $74.4 million in the second quarter of 1999.
Combined sales of Genentech`s two cardiovascular products,
Activase and TNKase, totaled $56.8 million in the second
quarter, down from $58.1 million for Activase alone in the
year-ago quarter. The company said Activase revenues slipped
due to continued competition and a decline in the overall size
of its market.
With a mid-June launch of TNKase, the full sales impact of
the drug is yet to be realized, the company said. The drug is
also under regulatory review for sale in Europe.
Sales of Genentech`s growth hormone products decreased to
$49.9 million compared to $59.3 million in the second quarter
of 1999. Genentech said distributors reduced inventory levels
in anticipation of the late-June launch of Nutropin Depot.
Genentech`s research and development expenses increased in
the second quarter to $115.6 million from to $94.2 million in
the same 1999 quarter, driven partially by a milestone payment
made under a deal.
"They have mentioned that R&D will vary from quarter to
quarter, so that`s not a big deal," Schmidt said.
Genentech shares have traded between 254 and 58-1/4 in the
last 52 weeks.
((Los Angeles bureau + 1 213 380 2014))
1 Monatsbetrachtung Nasdaq/bioTech-Index, hier wird der Weg klar, den man zu gehen gedenkt:
Kurs momentan 154 3/4. Da Genentech mit 19 Medikamenten in der Produktpipeline das BioTech-Unternehmen mit der größten Pipeline ist und sich die Institutionellen als erstes auf die Großen BioTechs stürzen, sollte GenenTech von der Umschichtung überproportional profitieren.
Was meinste A-Friend, das sieht doch nett aus.
Let´s trade them.
Mfg MH