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Biotech / Medical : VVUS: VIVUS INC. (NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DR. BOND who wrote (4553)	1/14/1998 9:46:00 PM
From: LoLoLoLita	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23519

I just replied to his post, assuming it was correct. I don't put much credence in the Zacks rating system, since I've found it a poor predictor of future stock price. But, since you asked, I looked it up through my account at Waterhouse, and The Zacks Indicator, indeed, is Strong Sell, as of 1/12/98. Unfortunately, the report is completely garbled because of the SI composer line-wrap. My apologies. Zacks Investment Research, Inc. -Company Reports- VIVUS INC Ticker Exchange Industry Type VVUS NSDQ MED-BIOMED/GENE Small Shares/ Outstanding Institutions Insiders 33.2 MM 65.38% 12.29% VIVUS, INC. develops products for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Rec Price P/E Mkt Cap Div Rate Yield Sales (12Mo) Sls Gr EPS Gr Div Gr Zacks Rank $10.38 18.0 $344 MM $0.00 0.0% $105 MM Strong Sell Price/Volume Data 52 Week High $40.56 52 Week Low $9.94 Price Change-Year To Date -2% Year To Date(Relative To S & P 500) 2% Average Daily Volume 620 000s Beta 2.01 Wall Street Recommendations Natl Retail Broker Inst Broker Reg Broker Total Z Indicator Strong Buy 0 0 1 1 0 Strong Buy Changes: increase, 1 week Moderate Buy 0 0 0 0 0 Mod Buy Changes: increase, 1 week decrease, 1 week Hold 1 1 4 6 0 Hold Changes: increase, 1 week decrease, 1 week Moderate Sell 0 0 0 0 0 Mod Sell Changes: increase, 1 week decrease, 1 week Strong Sell 0 0 0 0 1 Strong Sell Changes: decrease, 1 week Estimates and actuals are both eps before extras and other non-recurring items DISTRIBUTION OF EPS ESTIMATES HISTOGRAM AS OF 1/11/98 VIVUS INC FY1 - 9712 FY2 - 9812 6 ESTS. 5 ESTS. X O O X O X O X O O X !-----!-----!-----!-----! !-----!-----!-----!-----! 0.86 0.96 1.06 1.16 1.26 0.60 0.85 1.10 1.35 1.60 "X" = EPS ESTIMATE ($) "O" = THREE MOST RECENT ESTS. 12/97 QTR: VIVUS INC 3/98 QTR: EXP.REPT: 1/30/98 EXP.REPT: 4/ 8/98 X OOXO X O O O !-----!-----!-----!-----! !-----!-----!-----!-----! 0.14 0.24 0.34 0.44 0.54 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 MEAN 0.21 ( 6) MEAN 0.15 ( 3) MOST ACC 0.17 ( 3) MOST ACC 0.15 ( 3) ------------------------------------------------------------ Current EPS Estimates Period Ending Mean Est. ($/SH) High Est. ($/SH) Low Est. ($/SH) Number Ests. Mean Change, Last Month ($) Year Ending 12/98 1.02 1.50 0.64 5 -0.47 Year Ending 12/97 1.04 1.21 0.86 6 -0.04 VS Actual 12/96 -0.56 Quarter End 12/97 0.21 0.35 0.14 6 -0.04 VS Actual 12/96 -0.28 Quarter End 03/98 0.15 0.24 0.10 3 -0.07 VS Actual 03/97 0.27 Next 5 Year Growth (%) 27.50 30.00 25.00 2 0.00 Surprise History Quarter End % Surprise Actual Estimate Std Dev # Analysts 12/97 N/A N/A 0.21 0.07 6 09/97 3.33 0.31 0.30 0.01 2 06/97 93.10 0.28 0.14 0.04 2 Financial History Year End Sales Net Income EPS ex NRI EPS Reported Dividends High Low 1997 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 38 11 1996 20 -16 -0.56 -0.56 N/A 19 13 1995 0 -22 -0.85 -0.85 N/A 16 6 EPS History Fiscal Year 1st Q 2nd Q 3rd Q 4th Q Year 1999 0.27E 0.24E 0.29E 0.39E 2.85E 1998 0.15E 0.27E 0.36E 0.40E 1.02E 1997 0.27 0.28 0.31 0.21E 1.04E Company vs Industry --- EPS Growth Rates --- Last 5 Yrs Actual (%) 97/96 (%) 98/97 (%) Nxt 5 Yrs (%) P/E on 97 EPS Company N/A N/A -2.2 27.5 10.0 Ind: (MED-BIOMED/GEN) 24.3 15.4 31.5 28.3 -24.2 (Ind Group #205) S&P 500 12.6 12.4 6.6 7.1 20.5 Comp VS Ind N/A N/A -33.7 -0.8 888.0 Comp VS S&P N/A N/A -8.8 20.4 -10.5 Company Ratios: Current vs History Current 5-Year Avg P/E (12 Mo) 18.0 Rel P/E 86% Net Margin 20% ROE 20.6% -28.1% LT Debt/Cap 0% 0% Company vs Industry Ratios VIVUS INC INDUSTRY AVG S&P 500 Pr Chg YTD -2% -4% P/E (12Mo) 18.0 40.4 21.1 Price/Book 2.9 3.7 5.3 Price/Sales 3.3 Price/CF 33.0 Impl Ret/ P/E 0.68 Div Yield 0.0% 0.0% 1.7% Net Margin 20.5% -348.6% ROE 21% -37% 23% Debt/Cap 0% * Ranked 110/121 in MED-BIOMED/GENE. MED-BIOMED/GENE Ranked 41/211. Zacks Company Report was last updated 01/12/98. Select report for VVUS:

To: DR. BOND who wrote (4553)	1/14/1998 10:03:00 PM
From: Neil_L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

DR BOND, According to Waterhouse's Investment Center, which uses Zacks, I noticed that they now rate it a Strong Sell. Don't know when it changed but the last time I checked (about a week ago) they had it at a Hold. On getting your response, I checked the webpage for a date but it didn't show one. The webpage properties shows a creation date of today. It seems the many links on the web to Zacks are all out of date at one time or another. Maybe someone who subscribes to Zacks could check it. BTW, I show an estimate of .21 so I sincerely hope my guesstimate of .19 holds as much water as my method for deriving it. An upside suprise would be a great start. Neil.