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Bernie, I don't know why the H&Q analyst doesn't have LGND a strong buy, however, I noted that H&Q published a report called "The H&Q Road Map for Investing in the Drug Business", and in that report they divide the various biotech companies into several groups - genomic companies, combinatorial chemistry companies, assays & screeninig companies, target-driven drug design companies, product-oriented companies, etc. They put LGND in the assays & screening group along with Agouron, Neurogen, Sugen, Synaptic and Vertex. van den Broek's top pick in this group is Synaptic - which he rates a "buy", not a "strong buy". Other analysts in this report usually pick two or three "top picks" within each segment, van den Broek picks only one, Synaptic, and then doesn't even give it his highest recommendation..It is not possible from the report to detect any negative bias toward LGND, especially in light of the fact that LGND's technology is frequently and favorably cited in the report as an example of the advantages inherent in the use of "assay and screening" technology platforms. |
