Oh man a lot of rusty traders out there.. Look at this
WD-40 Co. (WDFC) 27 7/16 unch: manufacturer and marketer of multi-purpose lubricants posts a fiscal 1Q net of $0.34 a share, two cents better than the First Call estimate, vs year-ago net of $0.28 a share..... </b<
squeek squeek...
But i think merek is a STRONG BUY after the last 2 months..
MERCK & CO. INC. (MRK) 105 5/8 +3. This drug maker is getting a big push from investors today after the FDA approved Propecia, its drug that stops hair loss and encourages hair growth. While the drug does have some side-effects in around 2% of the patients that participated in the study, men are willing to try just about anything, even if it means lowering a person's sexual drive, in order to halt and reverse the trend in hair loss. The one-a-day pill is expected to cost between $45 and $49 for a monthly prescription supply and will be available to men only as studies have shown Propecia to cause birth defects in women. Propecia is expected to go head-to-head against Rogaine (PNU 36 5/8 +5/8), which is the only other FDA approved treatment available to fight hair loss. Given that there are an estimated 3 million users of Rogaine at the moment, if Merck is able to get about half this market to switch to its product, at $45 per month, the company could be generating as much as $810 million in additional revenues from Propecia. Of course, PNU will not stand still, and the added marketing costs will eat into the profits, but it seems that Merck could have a nice winner in this drug, even though the drug is not known to prevent hair loss from men who lose hair from the temples. Merck is on track to generate revenues of more than $23.7 billion in the current fiscal year from its global operations. Thus the 3% or more in additional revenues from this new drug could be significant if only the company can manage to have a good portion fall to the bottom line. |
