Icos stock drops following warning on 2002 results
NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Shares of Icos Corp. (NasdaqNM:ICOS - news) fell 5 percent on Wednesday after the company said its net loss in 2002 would be wider than expected as the company spends to launch a rival to Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE:PFE - news) impotence drug Viagra and expands its pipeline of other new drugs.
Bothell, Washington-based Icos' shares fell $2.33 to $42.21 on Nasdaq. Earlier in the day they fell as low as $40.24.
Icos said late Tuesday it expects to lose between $2.70 a share and $2.95 a share in 2002. Analysts had expected the company to lose between $1.00 a share and $2.57 a share, with an average estimate of $1.80 a share, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.
``These expenditures are significantly higher than we had previously modeled and reflect the first time management has given specific numbers in this arena,'' Geoffrey Harris, an analyst at UBS Warburg, said in a report.
Icos hopes to launch its impotence drug, Cialis, in the second half of this year together with Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY - news)The company plans to hire 165 sales representatives to market the drug.
Ian Somaiya, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said in a report he expects investors to focus on manufacturing issues at Eli Lilly that could potentially lead to regulators delaying approval of Cialis.
He said, however, that he believes the potential for such a delay is already priced into the share price and ``would therefore recommend investors with a longer term time horizon buy Icos.'' |
