Symbol(s) BCHE 03:27 PM
Found this on DJ News Service
01/29 2:58P (DJ) =Some Analysts Increasing BioChem 1999 Earnings Outlook>BCHE
Story 4727 By Mary Weil
TORONTO (Dow Jones)--BioChem Pharma Inc.'s (BCHE) good showing in the fourth quarter of 1998 has prompted some analysts to increase their outlook for the company's 1999 earnings.
As reported Thursday, BioChem earned 34 Canadian cents a share in the fourth quarter, 3 Canadian cents above First Call's mean estimate and up 48% from the net of 23 Canadian cents it reported a year earlier.
Joseph Dougherty, an analyst with Warburg Dillon Read, said the quarter was "lovely."
He, like most analysts, is expecting good things from BioChem's lamivudine, or Zeffix, in 1999. Lamivudine is used to treat chronic hepatitis B. BioChem is already doing well with 3TC, a different formuation of the drug used to treat HIV/AIDS.
The company has started selling lamivudine in Canada and the U.S. and expects to receive marketing approval in Europe in the first half of 1999, Dougherty said. He expects sales in China to start about mid-year.
Ezra Lwowski, an analyst with Yorkton Securities Inc., said he raised his 1999 earnings estimate to C$1.32 a share from his previous estimate of C$1.27.
For all of 1998, BioChem reported a profit of C$1.06 a share, beating First Call's mean estimate of C$1.03 a share and up from 74 Canadian cents a year
earlier. Revenue in 1998 climbed 24% to C$347.4 million.
Ann Dulhanty, analyst with Dundee Securities Corp., also made a "slight revision" in her 1999 outlook for the company, but she declined to provide specific figures.
Friday, BioChem is up 1.55 at 43.50 in Montreal, after climbing 1.55 Thursday. Lwowski has a 12 to 18-month target price of C$50 on the stock.
(MORE) DOW JONES NEWS 01-29-99 02:58 PM
Dr. Francesco Bellini, chief executive of BioChem Pharma Inc. (BCHE), said
he expects earnings per share to increase "at least" 30% in 1999 compared with
1998.
Revenue from 3TC and Zeffix, or lamivudine, is expected to increase about
25% in 1999, Bellini said.
Analyst Michael Jams of Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion Inc. said he expects
more of a focus in 1999 on other products that BioChem is developing.
"Once they move some products into advanced clinical studies - for cancer,
HIV and pain control, and also vaccines, we're going to have to start
attributing some value to that," Jams said, noting that products under
development don't have any value attributed to them in the company's stock
price.
Jams said once a company becomes an earnings story, investors focus on
earnings and don't pay as much attention to the potential earnings of new
products.
Bellini said three products should enter Phase II or III trials in 1999, and
two vaccines are expected to enter Phase I trials.
-By Mary Weil; 416-943-7808; mary.weil@dowjones.ca
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-29-99
03:27 PM
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