Bob, I think you meant that Merck has $5.2 B in earnings, the amount estimated by Value Line. 1998 revenues are estimated at $26B.
Following your cue, I looked up some of the parameters for the pharmaceutical Big Leagues, using VL's estimates for 1998:
AHP -- $15.1 B revs, $2.4B earnings.
AMGN -- $2.5B revs, $.75B earnings
BMY -- $18.3B revs, $3.6B earnings
GLX -- $13.2B revs, $3B earnings
JNJ -- $24B revs, $3.6B earnings
LLY -- $9.6B revs, $2.1B earnings
MRK -- $26B revs, $5.2B earnings
PFE -- $14.1B revs, $2.6B earnings
PNU -- $6.8B revs, $.81B earnings
SGP -- $7.8B revs, $1.7B earnings
SBH -- $13.7B revs, $1.6B earnings
WLA -- $10.5B revs, $1.1B earnings
Reaching any of these levels is a very long way to go for Sepracor, but the rewards would be huge. The cheapest of these companies are Amgen and Pharmacia, each about ten times SEPR's value. Pfizer and Merck are each worth sixty times more than Sepracor at current prices. |
