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After Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD ) spent the past year locked in a four-star ranking, enough top-performing CAPS members joined the bullish crowd recently to upgrade it to five stars. A total of 1,753 members have given their opinion on the biopharmaceutical company, with many offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.
Shares of Gilead Sciences haven't joined the rally the way Pfizer (NYSE: PFE ) , Merck (NYSE: MRK ) , and sanofi-aventis (NYSE: SNY ) have since the broader stock-market lows of March. But the company has continued to perform well, so many CAPS members see a good opportunity for gains. The company offers a healthy and broad list of products, and sales of all of them grew in the third quarter. One of its strong points is its competitive position in HIV treatments, which investors expect will continue to be lucrative for Gilead. Its single-pill HIV treatment, Atripla, which is a combination of drugs from Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY ) , brought a 42% increase in third-quarter sales. And while demand is increasing for swine flu vaccines from companies like Novartis (NYSE: NVS ) , Gilead is raking in Tamiflu royalties from its license with Roche, similar to increased demand for rival drug Relenza from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK ) .
Gilead's quarterly results beat expectations, and the company raised its guidance for full-year revenue while lowering its forecast for research and development costs. And after success with its other cocktail HIV drugs, investors see that its four-in-one pill, which is in development, could have a big impact in coming years.
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