GILEAD SCIENCES 885823 (Seite 325)

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UPDATE 1-Gilead hepatitis C drug meets goal of 4th late-stage study

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/19/gilead-study-hepat…

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[Oberkassel]

This News Makes Gilead the Top Healthcare Pick

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) is one of the best positioned Biotechnology stocks. The company already has an excellent HIV segment which is a pioneer and leader in its own industry. The future valuations of Gilead are tied to the success of its much discussed Hepatitis segment. The company plans to provide alternative therapies for HCV which are more convenient and effective.

These ambitions are shared by Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) as both companies are working on a similar treatment for HCV. My research shows that the HCV solution by Bristol Myers and Gilead is way ahead of the competition. More interestingly for Gilead investors, the HCV drug combination being developed by Bristol contains Gilead’s Sofobuvir. This shows that Gilead is all set to dominate a market which can be worth more than $25 billion by the end of this decade.

Hepatitis C trials

Yesterday Gilead released data on two different studies aimed at assessing its Hepatitis C candidates. The company released 12 weeks data for both Fission and Neutrino. These studies test the effect of Gilead’s drug candidates on subjects with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, who have never before received treatment for the disease.

Fission

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of Sofobuvir + Ribavirin as compared to standard of care PEG-IFN + RBV for 24 weeks. The study has been successful in providing evidence that Sofobuvir + RBV is just as effective as the standard treatment. The results show that both treatments resulted in 67% patients showing a virologic response. The real success for Gilead lies in the lesser adverse effects of Sofobuvir + Ribavirin as compared to the alternative. There were a higher rate of complaints of dizziness, nausea, headaches, insomnia and fatigue, from patients receiving Peg-IFN as compared to the one on RBV and Sofobuvir.

Neutrino

The aim of this study was to prove the superiority of adding peg-IFN to a combination of Sofobuvir and RBV. According to results, this combination was almost 30% more effective with 90% patients showing a sustained response. Approximately 20% subjects complained about fatigue, headaches, nausea, anemia and insomnia.

Valuation

The stock has shed a few percentage points after the data was release to the market. I believe investor apprehension is totally misplaced and Gilead is all set to extend its lead to leadership on Hepatitis drug market. The results from both trials support my hypothesis that Gilead’s Hepatitis cocktail will receive the FDA nod. The combination is not only more effective than current treatments but also has fewer side effects. The FDA approval should come through by the end of 2013 and investors should expect the filling to take place by the end of 1H2013.

According to research there are approximately 170 million HCV patients in the world with almost 4 million in the United States alone. According to street estimates the market for HCV drugs can reach approximately $25 billion by the 2020. The stock is currently trading at a P/e of 13.8x, approximately 60% below industry averages. If we value the stock at a P/e of 25x and consensus EPS estimates, we can get a 2013 target price of $54; a return of approximately 40%. I believe my high multiple is justified by high growth rate expected from Gilead due to its HIV and Hepatitis portfolio.

Risks

At these levels Gilead is a low risk stock but there are still some risks attached to any stock investment. The management of Phase III will be critical to the success of its hepatitis and FDA approval for its cocktail. The company is not the only player looking to dominate the Hepatitis market. Bristol-Myers Squibb's and Johnson and Johnson both have candidates targeting a more comfortable cure to HCV.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is trying for a combination of its Daclastasvir and Sofobuvir. The Phase II results for the combination have been even better than Gilead’s attempts with approximately 93% cured as compared to 90% by Gilead’s candidate. However as both drugs are manufactured by different companies, they will not enter the Phase III together but will apply for a combination therapy. The alternative being proposed by J&J is the weakest one with only 80% patients showing a virologic response to a combination of simeprevir, pegylated interferon and ribavirin.

Quelle:Motley Fool

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[Oberkassel]

Gilead Earnings Blaze a Star-Studded Future

The global HIV market supports a large and lucrative business environment. With more than $13 billion in antiretroviral drug sales in 2011 -- to just the United States and Europe's five-largest markets alone -- companies in this space can drum up substantial revenues by catering to the HIV patient population.

There may be no more successful company in this sphere than Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD ) , however, which has established its foundation on blockbuster HIV drugs and emerged as a biotech power. Gilead's been good to shareholders recently, with the stock up more than 18% over the last three months -- but with earnings on tap, could the company keep up its momentum?

Revenue soars, earnings beat

Revenue's been roaring higher lately for Gilead, and analysts expected a strong showing from the fourth quarter. Investors were eager to see how the company's latest drug, Stribild, would fare after launching in just August of last year, particularly as the company looks to diversify beyond HIV therapies as it expands its reach across the biotech sphere into hepatitis-C drugs, oncology, and more.

Fortunately, there's no need for shareholders to fret, as Gilead scored yet another win. The company's earnings surged yet again, with adjusted earnings per share coming in at $0.50 -- up $0.01 from a year ago and beating analyst expectations by a full $0.03.

Sales also soared, as Gilead reported revenue of $2.59 billion for the fourth quarter, up 18% year-over-year. That number also smashed projections, which expected only $2.43 billion in revenue for the quarter. Things aren't all rosy in sales, however: Gilead announced that between $80 million to $100 million of its sales came through wholesalers stocking up in the company's drugs ahead of scheduled price increases for 2013. Company executive vice president of commercial affairs Kevin Young pointed out how such trends were beyond Gilead's control, saying, "We cannot predict whether these purchaser activities will be repeated in 2013."

Gilead's already been hiking prices on its HIV drugs over 2012, a move that boosted revenue and also greatly irked the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The AHF complained about the price hikes on Monday in light of Gilead's raise of HIV therapy Atripla's price in 2012, along with its announcement of Stribild as the most expensive drug on the market in September. Still, the results have worked well for investors, and if price hikes can keep fueling the company's revenues, I doubt Wall Street -- or Gilead's management -- will complain.

The numbers were good, and shares of Gilead responded positively in after-hours trading. In the aftermath of earnings, how should you view the future of this company?

A starstruck future for Gilead

Firstly, Gilead's still shining brightly in an HIV market that's continuing to rise. Blockbuster Atripla is cruising right along with 6% sales growth in the U.S. during the fourth quarter and 5% growth in Europe. That's less than Gilead was recording through the first nine months of the year, but it didn't hurt Atripla's 11% sales growth throughout 2012. With full-year sales now eclipsing $3.5 billion, it's been a good run for Atripla -- but Gilead could soon face some serious pressure here, as the patent for a component of the drug, Sustiva, expires this year.

However, Stribild marks the future of Gilead's HIV preeminence. Stribild combines four drugs into one medication and has already been shown to work as effectively as Atripla. The drug isn't selling much now, with just $40 million in revenue in the fourth quarter after its launch last year, but analysts have already pegged sales expectations for Stribild in the billions. All signs point to this as Gilead's future blockbuster and the true successor to Atripla.

However, Gilead's efforts to reach beyond HIV have succeeded, as well – and there's more in the pipeline to come. The company's looking to boost its oncology portfolio, and its acquisition of YM Biosciences in December should help. Gilead's cardiovascular franchises have also done quite well, with both Letairis and Ranexa seeing double-digit sales growth over the full year 2012 -- the former with 40% revenue growth, a great success.

Gilead has really put the pressure on the hepatitis-C market as of late, however. The company purchased hep-C-focused firm Pharmasset last year for $11 billion, and the results may now be paying off. The company reported two successful phase 3 trials of its hep-C therapy sofosbuvir on Monday, and all signs point to an FDA approval for the drug. Should that occur, sofosbuvir would become the first all-oral hep-C therapy on the market. That would be a big win for Gilead in a market predicted by some analysts to rise to as much as $20 billion in coming years, but it's not the only interested player. AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV ) has its own all-oral therapy in the works, and with a cure rate of 99% -- exceeding Gilead's statistics -- AbbVie could be poised to beat out Gilead in the oral hepatitis-C arena.

So, what does Gilead's 2013 look like? The company's still facing some competition in the HIV arena. Merck (NYSE: MRK ) has done well with HIV therapy Isentress, a drug that's entered the big pharma's upper echelon with $1.5 billion in sales during 2012 -- an 11% year-over-year increase. Viiv Healthcare -- the partnership between GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK ) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) -- has also been working on a challenger to Stribild, dolutegravir. While dolutegravir's facing challenges of its own, Viiv has shown the drug to be effective in a phase 3 trial.

Regardless, I expect Gilead to continue to soar. The company's done quite well with its HIV portfolio as sales continue to rocket up, and its efforts to expand outside into oncology and hepatitis C, among other markets, will help to pace sales growth while ensuring a broader and more stable portfolio for the company. The stars are aligned for Gilead now -- and should the company continue to grow sales while capitalizing on its future in Stribild and sofosbuvir, investors can expect even more rewards from this soaring biotech.

Quelle:Motley Fool

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Oberkassler

[Oberkassel]

Gilead stock keeps rising after 4Q, study reports

A better-than-expected fourth quarter and encouraging early results from late-stage studies of a potential hepatitis C treatment lifted Gilead Sciences shares Tuesday.

THE SPARK: The Foster City, Calif., company said Monday an oral treatment combination of its potential drug, sofosbuvir, and an older treatment, ribavirin, did as well as the standard of care in one late-stage study of chronic hepatitis C patients who had not undergone treatment. And patients taking sofosbuvir as part of a treatment regimen in another late-stage study did much better than patients have historically done.

Gilead also said Monday that its fourth-quarter profit grew nearly 15 percent, edging past analyst estimates when adjusted for one-time costs.

THE BIG PICTURE: After decades as the dominant company in the HIV field, Gilead Sciences Inc. is positioning itself to move into the hepatitis C space with several potential treatments.

Hepatitis C is a virus that can lead to life-threatening liver damage and is the main cause of liver transplants in the United States. The disease is spread through the blood, and that can happen through sharing intravenous drug needles or having sex with an infected person. It can take years to manifest.

Analysts see hepatitis treatments as potentially lucrative for drugmakers because they expect the virus to become a growing health problem as the U.S. baby boom generation ages.


THE ANALYSIS: William Blair analyst John Sonnier said in a note the study results were encouraging, and he believes sofosbuvir could become "a very effective backbone therapy" for hepatitis C treatment. The analyst, who rates Gilead "Outperform," expects the FDA to approve it by the middle of next year.

Cowen and Co. analyst Phil Nadeau said in a separate note that he thinks investors will tolerate profit growth over the next year that's only modest because of the expected launch of drugs with big potential, like sofosbuvir.

SHARE ACTION: Up $1.10, or 2.8 percent, to $40.69 in Tuesday afternoon trading, after reaching a 52-week high price of $41.34 earlier. The company's shares have risen more than 10 percent so far in 2013.

Quelle:Yahoo Finance

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[Oberkassel]

Gilead Sciences: A Great Long-Term Buy And Heading Bullishly Into Earnings

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) is a research-based biopharmaceutical company, which develops and markets therapies to treat life-treating infectious diseases with the core portfolio focuses on HIV, liver diseases, such as hepatitis B and C, and cardiovascular/metabolic and respiratory conditions. Since our last article of "How To Play Gilead Sciences At Its Sizzling Hot 52-Week High", GILD had increased 6.26% and closed at $40.56 on February 1, 2013. GILD had 2:1 split on January 28, 2013. Recent developments will be updated for GILD in the following article.

Major Highlights

TAF Phase III study: On January 24, 2013, GILD announced the initiation of the first of two Phase III clinical trials (Study 104) evaluating a single tablet regimen containing tenofovir alafenamide, TAF, for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in treatment-naïve adults. As reported, "The Phase III studies will examine a once-daily single tablet regimen of TAF 10 mg/elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg compared to Gilead's Stribild® (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) among patients new to HIV therapy. The second Phase III study (Study 111) will be initiated later this quarter." GILD's management believes that TAF's smaller milligram size has the potential to offer safety and tolerability advantages over existing therapies and may enable the creation of new single tablet regimens for HIV. Topline results from a Phase 2 study comparing TAF/elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine single tablet regimen to Stribild were received in October, 2012. Stribild was
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, in August 2012 and is Gilead's third single tablet regimen for HIV, which is currently pending for marketing in Europe. Forecasts from the new report indicate that the global HIV/AIDS therapeutics market will increase in value at a Compound Annual Growth Rate, CARG, of 7% between the years 2011 and 2018, from $13.5 billion to $21.8 billion.

DART: GILD will pay $30M in license fees in a deal to develop antibodies using technology from MacroGenics Inc. Depending on how the technology, Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting or DART, works out, GILD could end up paying as much as $85M in this deal. DART platform technology focuses on dual specificity "antibody-like" therapeutic proteins capable of targeting multiple different epitopes with a single recombinant molecule. As quoted from MacroGenics website,

"A key technological advancement and distinguishing feature of MacroGenics' DART is a proprietary covalent linkage which results in a molecule having superior stability, optimal heavy and light chain pairing and predictable antigen recognition."


Hepatitis C development programs:

GILD is on track to submit the initial regulatory filing for sofosbuvir by mid-2013 and to file for approval of the fixed-dose combination of sofosbuvir and GS-5885 in 2014. As reported for Phase 2 ELECTRON study,


"Preliminary data, presented in November at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, AASLD, demonstrated that three of nine patients (3/9) remained HCV RNA undetectable four weeks after completing therapy, SVR4. Today's announcement confirms that all nine patients (9/9) in this cohort achieved SVR4. These patients will continue to be observed to determine sustained virologic response rates at weeks 12 and 24 of follow-up (SVR12 and SVR24)."


GILD is also evaluating a once-daily fixed-dose combination tablet containing sofosbuvir and GS-5885 in several Phase 2 and 3 trials. As reported,


"Four ongoing Phase III studies will support Gilead's initial regulatory filing in mid-2013 for an all-oral therapy with sofosbuvir plus RBV among genotype 2/3 treatment-naïve, treatment-experienced and interferon-intolerant patients, and for sofosbuvir in combination with RBV and peg-IFN among treatment-naïve patients with HCV genotypes 1, 4, 5 and 6. Topline results from the first Phase III study, POSITRON, were
announced in November 2012, and results from the remaining three studies (FISSION, FUSION and NEUTRINO) are anticipated in Q1 2013. Results from ION-1, ION-2 and LONESTAR are intended to support a regulatory filing for the fixed-dose combination of sofosbuvir/GS-5885 by mid-2014."

Other Large-Cap Biotechnology Competitors

Celgene Corporation (CELG) had been on a bullish run with 29.27% increase since the beginning of 2012. CELG closed at $101.44 with a new 52-week high of $102.29 on February 1, 2013. CELG reported a strong Q4 for 2012 reaffirmed FY2013 guidance. CELG expects total net product sales to increase about 11% year-over-year to around $6B and adjusted diluted EPS to increase approximately 13% year-over-year to a range of $5.50 to $5.60 as reported by Reuters. CELG's overweight rating was reiterated by JPMorgan Chase with a $115 price target on January 30, 2013.

Amgen, Inc. (AMGN), another major biotechnology competitor, stayed relatively flat since the beginning of the year and closed at $86.30 on February 1, 2013. On January 23, 2013, AMGN reported a weaker Q4 report with a 16% decrease in Q4 profit due to high production cost, marketing, research and other items counter balance higher sales. Net income, excluding one-time items, would have been $1.40 a share, which is 4 cents lower than analysts' expectation, according to FactSet. AMGN was upgraded by Argus to Buy on January 25, 2013 but downgraded by Credit Suisse to Neutral on January 22, 2013.

Key Stats and Valuation

GILD has an enterprise value of $67.46B with a market cap of $61.46B. GILD has a total cash of $1.70B with a total debt of $8.77B. GILD generates an operating cash flow of $3.47B with a levered free cash flow of $3.42B. By using Morningstar's data, GILD's key stats will be compared to its competitors in the biotechnology industry, including Amgen Inc., Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) and Celgene Corporation. GILD has higher revenue growth (3 year average) of 16.3, which is higher than the industry average of 13.6. GILD has higher operating margin of 40.5%, ttm, and net margin of 26.8%, ttm, as compared to the industry averages of 25.9% and 13.7%, ttm, respectively. GILD generates higher ROE of 33.9, comparing to the average of 13.5. GILD's P/E of 24.6 is lower than the industry average of 47.4 but higher than GILD's 5 year average of 17.0. GILD's forward P/E of 9.2 is lower than S&P 500's average of 13.3.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1151841-gilead-sciences-a-gr…

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[Cameltrophy]

Interessanter Artikel zu Gilead

Hinter Gilead verbirgt sich nicht nur einer der weltbesten biotechaktien, sondern auch ein für diese Branche gestandenes Unternehmen. Während viele Konkurrenten immer noch auf den großen Durchbruch hoffen, hat Gilead bereits zwölf Medikamente auf dem Markt, gegen Hepatitis, Aids, Grippe und Pilzinfektionen. Seit 2004 hat Gilead Umsatz und Gewin versechsfacht. Mit jedem Mitarbeiter erzielt der Konzern heute durchschnittlich 2 Millionen Dollar Umsatz - viermal so viel wie der Pharmariese Merck & Co.

[Oberkassel]

Gilead Sciences to Release Fourth Quarter and Year End 2012 Financial Results on Monday, February 4, 2013

Conference Call and Webcast to Follow

FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) announced today that its fourth quarter and year end 2012 financial results will be released on Monday, February 4, at 4:05 p.m. Eastern Time. At 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Gileads management will host a conference call to discuss the companys financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2012 and provide a general business update and financial guidance for 2013. The conference call will be accessible via the internet from the companys website.

To access the webcast link, log on to www.gilead.com. Please connect to the companys website at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be required to listen to the webcast. Alternatively, please call 1-800-901-5231 (U.S.) or 1-617-786-2961 (international) and dial the participant passcode 49057415 to access the call. Telephone replay will be available approximately two hours after the call through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, February 7, 2013. To access the replay, please call 1-888-286-8010 (U.S.) or 1-617-801-6888 (international) and dial the participant passcode 15606712. The webcast will be archived on www.gilead.com for one year.

Oberkassler

[Oberkassel]

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) had its price target upped by UBS AG from $43.50 to $47.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Analysts at RBC Capital reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note to investors on Friday, January 25th. They now have a $88.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Barclays Capital raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note to investors on Tuesday, January 22nd. They now have an overweight rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at Guggenheim reiterated a buy rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note to investors on Thursday, January 10th. They now have a $87.00 price target on the stock.

Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, four have assigned an overweight rating, and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. The company has an average rating of overweight and an average price target of $42.91.

Gilead Sciences traded up 1.39% on Wednesday, hitting $40.00. Gilead Sciences has a 52-week low of $21.905 and a 52-week high of $40.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $38.13. The company has a market cap of $60.612 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53.

Quelle:Zolmax News

Charttechnik: Quelle CC

Unser Pivot-Punkt liegt bei 38.4.
Unsere Meinung: solange die Unterstützung bei 38.4 hält, sind 41.6 das Ziel
Alternatives Szenario: unter 38.4 lauten die Kursziele 37.3 und 36.7
Analyse: der RSI liegt über 70. Das kann bedeuten, dass sich die Aktie entweder in einem anhaltenden Aufwärtstrend befindet oder dass sie überkauft ist und deshalb korrigieren wird (in diesem Fall auf bearishe Divergenzen achten). Der MACD liegt unter der Signallinie und ist positiv. Die Aktie könnte kurzfristig wieder zurückgehen. Es wird darauf hingewiesen, dass die Volumina seit einigen Tagen ansteigen.


Zuteilung: 1:1 ist vollzogen keine Steuerbelastung.

Oberkassler

[apfelburli71]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 43.980.075 von Ulf-Imat am 03.01.13 23:35:19

Habe heute Schreiben von der Targobank erhalten über Zuteilung im Verhältnis 1:1, mit Überschrift Split.

Ein Steuerabzug wurde nicht angekündigt.

[Oberkassel]

Gilead Could Be A Smart Play On Hepatitis C Market Growth

Gilead Sciences (GILD) has acquired YM BioSciences (YMI) for $2.95 per share in cash. YM's lead drug candidate, CYT387, is an orally-administered, once-daily, selective inhibitor of the Janus kinase (JAK) family, specifically JAK1 and JAK2. The JAK enzymes have been implicated in a number of disorders, including myeloproliferative diseases, inflammatory disorders and even certain cancers. YM BioSciences has reported positive results from its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of CYT387 in 166 patients with myelofibrosis, a life-threatening myeloproliferative disease. A pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of CYT387 in myelofibrosis may be initiated in the second half of 2013.

Gilead views the acquisition as an opportunity to add a clinical program in the area of hematologic cancers to its oncology portfolio. Based on the phase 2 data, CYT387 could provide important clinical benefits for patients with myelofibrosis, including potential improvements with regard to anemia and decreased dependence on blood transfusions. The drug will be moved into a Phase 3 clinical trial as soon as possible. Myelofibrosis is a progressive, chronic bone marrow disorder in which the marrow is replaced by fibrous scar tissue, making it difficult for the bone marrow to sufficiently produce blood cells, leading to anemia (low red blood cell count) and thrombocytopenia (low blood platelet count), severe constitutional symptoms and spleen enlargement. JAK inhibitors modulate cytokine-stimulated intracellular signaling and decrease the circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines associated with the pathogenesis of myelofibrosis.

Competition in the HCV market

The size and potential of the global hepatitis C market has drawn a number of major pharmaceutical players. Microbiotix, a privately-held, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, has recently entered into a licensing agreement with Merck (MRK) that gives the company worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize MBX-700 and MBX-701 (formerly SCH 900942 and SCH 900188), two non-nucleoside inhibitors of the hepatitis C virus NS5B polymerase. U.S. health regulators recently approved GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) drug Promacta for the additional treatment of low platelet count in hepatitis C patients and this will provide hepatitis C patients with a standard therapy to fight the disease.

Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMY) has acquired Inhibitex - and the company's experimental hepatitis-C drug INX-189 (later renamed BMS-986094). The company recently halted studies on this compound due to safety issues that emerged in its Phase 2 trial and Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX) was also affected by this negative result. The FDA suspended the development of the company's experimental hepatitis-C drugs IDX184 and IDX19368, which belong to the same drug class as BMS-986094, until drug safety can be proved.

AbbVie (ABBV), the newly-spun-off pharmaceutical division of Abbott (ABT), is developing its own experimental hepatitis C drug that has shown impressive results in trials so far but is not expected to be commercially available for quite some time. Abbott met endpoints in its Phase 2b trial for ABT-450, which is an ex-interferon treatment for hepatitis C genotype I.

Buy Rating reiterated

Gilead has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of A-. The strengths of the company have been demonstrated in its revenue growth, stock price performance, reasonable valuation expanding profit margins and solid financial position with reasonable debt levels. Analysts believe that these strengths outweigh the below par growth in net income. Revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 5.4%. Since the same quarter of 2011, revenues have risen by 14.4%, but have been accompanied by a decline in earnings per share.

Gilead stock has jumped 76.13% since this same time last year, outperforming the broader market during that same time frame. The gross profit margin is currently very high at 76.90% and has increased from the same quarter in the previous year. The net profit margin of 27.83% is also above the industry average.

Earnings per share fell by 10.5% in the third quarter of 2012, compared to the same quarter in 2011, and earnings have been somewhat volatile. However, Gilead appears to be poised for EPS growth in 2013. During the past fiscal year, the company increased its bottom line by earning $3.55 per share versus $3.30 a share in the previous year. For this year, the market expects an improvement in earnings at $3.85 a share versus $3.55).

Gilead has a market cap of $59 billion and currently has a P/E ratio of 24.2 which is above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. However, the company has a solid portfolio of drugs on the market as well as in the development pipeline and a dominant position in the HIV treatment market. The company has moved decisively to protect its franchise in the HIV market. It is now poised to make its mark in the large and lucrative hepatitis C treatment market, which should contribute substantially to future growth and earnings. Based on these developments I feel that Gilead would be a good addition to anyone's portfolio.

Quelle:Seeking Alpha

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