Highlights from the Big Pharma Report posted on AOL's Motley Fool Board:
Another big welcome to all new PFErs!
V-Day has happened!
Have PFun!
BigKNY3
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Big Pharma Report- 3/28/98
Week
Big Pharma declined 1.9% following the Dow (-1.2%) and the S&P (-0.3%) and counter to the exploding NAStie (+1.9%). For the second consecutive week and spurred by Viagra news, PFE was the Big Pharma leader (+3.8%). The PFE weekly volume of 30.5 million was the highest since 1/24/94. Since Friday, 3/08/98, PFE has increased 13.8%.
New highs were set for 4 Big Pharmas; PFE (97.50), WLA (169.31), MRK (132.81), and PNU (45.88).
LLY is still having Evista woes (-7.8%).
March
Big Pharma (+2.9%) is keeping pace with the Dow (+2.9%),and trailing the S&P (+4.4%) and NAStie (+3.0%)
AMGN remains the March leader (+14.0%) followed by WLA (+13.7%), PU (+10.3%), and, finally, PFE (+8.2%).
Marching backwards are LLY (-8.5%) and JNJ (-5.6%).
YTD 1998
Big Pharma (+17.2%) remains healthy ahead of the Dow (+11.2%), the S&P (+12.9%), and the NASTie (+16.1%).
WLA (+33.7%) has regained the #1 spot, followed by SGP (+31.6%) The hottest Big Pharma is dear old PFE in third place (+28.4%).
Reflecting concern about the slow start of Evista, LLY is the only Big Pharma to show a YTD decline (-13.6%).
Big Pharma News You Can Use (BigKNY3 Comments)
Click here for a new link to news, charts and quotes on Big Pharma.http://quote.fool.com/simple.asp?SYMBOLS=ABT%2CAHP%2CAMGN%2CBMY%2CJNJ%2CLLY%2CMRK%2CPFE%2CPNU%2CSBH%2CSGP%2CWLA&All=on&Format=Fraction
Highlights from today's Barrons:
"It's probably fitting that the hottest pharmaceutical stock in this exuberant market has been powered by a drug that facilitates erections.
The shares are those of Pfizer, which Friday won approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its male impotence drug, Viagra. Pfizer's stock has risen 17% since the beginning of February on hopes for the new drug, which offers a significant improvement over competing products. Viagra is a pill, while other treatments involve injections or insertion of capsules into the penis.
Pfizer rose 3 5/8, to 95 3/4, last week, after reaching a record high of 97 1/8 . It now has a market value of almost $125 billion. One drug analyst is cautious, saying that any disappointment involving Viagra could dent Pfizer's shares, even though the company possesses the industry's best pharmaceutical pipeline. "Viagra'd better do well" from the start, says Neil Swieg, an analyst at Southeast Research Partners. He says there's apt to be intense scrutiny of the so-called script data on sales in the months after its launch in late April.
The Street is betting that Viagra will generate $300 million in sales during 1998, $1 billion next year, and $3 billion annually soon after the year 2000. The drug is targeted initially at the estimated 30 million American men who can't achieve satisfactory erections. Most of these men are over 50. Viagra, Pfizer said, "works naturally with sexual stimulation" by increasing blood flow to the penis. In trials, the drug, which is expected to cost $10 per tablet, worked 70% of the time. For Viagra to reach $1 billion in sales, about six million men would need to use it twice a month.
Sweig's favorite drug stocks are Merck, Schering-Plough, Warner-Lambert and Pharmacia & Upjohn, which recently got approval for a new incontinence drug. Sweig sees Pharmacia, now at 44, reaching the mid-50s in 1999 even without takeover speculation.
Eli Lilly, one of the strongest pharmaceutical stocks from 1995 through 1997, has been the weakest of the major drug issues this year, falling 14% since January 1, amid disappointment over initial sales of its new drug for osteoporosis, Evista. One of Lilly's biggest fans, Christina Heuer of Salomon Smith Barney, downgraded her rating on the stock last week to "outperform" from "buy" and cut her 1998 and 1999 profit estimates. Some saw a buying opportunity in Lilly, maker of Prozac. After falling 5 1/16 to 60 5/16 last week, Lilly trades at around 31 times projected 1998 earnings."
ED News You Can Use (BigKNY3 Comments)
Nothing new to report. Only kidding!
Click here for a new link to news, charts and quotes on ED Stocks.http://quote.fool.com/simple.asp?SYMBOLS=HVSF%2CICOS%2CMCHM%2CPFE%2CSNTKY%2CVVUS%2CZONA&All=on&Format=Fraction
V-Day Countdown: I am sorry the big V has left the launching pad.
Stocks to Watch (BigKNY3 Comments)
......................................... Current Price.....Chg
3/14/98 ICOS (13 3/8)........ 15.25........ +14.0%
3/21/98 PFE (92.25)........... 95.75....... +3.8%
This week's STW: BMY (101.31) :Only a 7.1% YTD gain as compared to 17.2% for Big Pharma.
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