A Big Upgrade for Celgene
By
Dave Mock
July 16, 2008
|
Every day, the sun rises on Wall Street, and a plethora of professional analysts wake to issue new opinions on stocks. Here at the Fool, we use our "This Just In" column to examine some of these picks -- and the track record of the firms behind them -- so individuals can make better investing decisions.
In addition to following professional analysts, anyone can use Motley Fool CAPS to monitor the collective opinions of more than 110,000 members, many of whom demonstrate better investing insight than published analysts do.
Enough top-performing CAPS members have turned bullish on Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG) recently to upgrade it from its long-held four-star rank to a tip-top five stars. With 1,048 members giving an opinion on Celgene, there's plenty of analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.
While CAPS members have fingered diversified conglomerates like Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) as their best recession-proof stocks, biotech companies can also be a great place to be invested during bear markets because patients need drugs no matter what the state of the economy. As such, Celgene, Genentech (NYSE: DNA), Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN), and other top biotechs already have or are expected to report strong second-quarter sales.
Celgene has topped a list of other biotechs, including Immucor (Nasdaq: BLUD) and BioMarin Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq: BMRN), that have soared with triple-digit percentage gains over the past five years. These gains were fueled by approved cancer drugs Thalomid and Revlimid, which helped Celgene grow revenue by 56% to $1.4 billion in 2007. With its $2.9 billion acquisition of Pharmion completed earlier this year, Celgene has picked up bone marrow disease drug Vidaza. The new drug, combined with a larger sales force, has the potential to leverage several successful drugs off each other to further grow sales. A solid contingent of CAPS members see more success in the future, too: More than 95% of the 1,048 members rating Celgene expect it to outperform the market.
To see what the highest-rated CAPS members are saying now about Celgene -- as well as other winning stocks they are picking -- head on over to CAPS and have a look. The community research and resources in CAPS are totally free, unlike analyst opinions reserved for paying clients.
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