From Streetcom:
Vivus (VVUS:Nasdaq), a pioneer in the medical field of impotence treatment, has fallen from a high of 41 last October to around 10 because of difficulties getting a new manufacturing plant online, a slump in new prescriptions and a dispute with the Food and Drug Administration over ads. But the success of Pfizer's (PFE:NYSE) Viagra impotence pill could give new life to the stock.
Analyst D. Curtis Hogue of Cruttenden Roth in Irvine, Calif., sets a 1998 price target of $23 for Vivus, thanks to new interest generated by Viagra. Pfizer's treatment won't work for everyone, Hogue says, so there's room for several products in the market, including Vivus' Muse. "Vivus is well-positioned to capitalize on the significant number of erectile dystunction patients who we believe will fail on Viagra," he says, concluding that the stock is "extremely undervalued."
In a contrasting opinion, Alan Jacobs, research director at Avalon Research Group in Boca Raton, Fla., is not enthusiastic about Vivus' prospects, mainly because of the way Muse is administered. Viagra is a pill taken orally. Muse is a suppository inserted into the tip of the penis with a plastic applicator. "Before I tried Muse I think I would look around first for another pill," he says.
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