Not 50% Growth, but We'll Take It

To investors' delight, the topsy-turvy company that Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG  ) has become was more topsy than turvy in the third quarter.

Revenue was up 17% year over year -- compared with just a 10% gain last quarter -- thanks to expansion of Revlimid into additional countries.

Gone are the days when Celgene was the envy of large drug companies and routinely made best-stock lists. OK, so even a 10% revenue gain would be welcome at Pfizer (NYSE: PFE  ) , Merck (NYSE: MRK  ) , or GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK  ) , but I think it's safe to assume that the days of seemingly routine 50%-60% revenue growth are over for Celgene.

That doesn't mean that Celgene or its top seller, Revlimid, are likely to slow down too much. The company released top-line results in July that support Revlimid being used earlier in the progression of multiple myeloma and Celgene expects to present the full data at a medical conference in December.

Revlimid is already used off-label in the U.S. for newly diagnosed patients, but the trial data should lead to label changes that will allow the company to promote it as a first-line treatment. That will be especially helpful in Europe, where it's not used to treat newly diagnosed patients.

Revlimid is becoming the drug of choice for doctors who treat multiple myeloma. The continued sales growth is one indication, but here's a more qualitative sign: Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ONXX  ) is planning on testing its newly acquired multiple myeloma drug in combination with Revlimid. To maximize sales, it only makes sense to test the drug as an add-on therapy with the standard-of-care drug.

With Celgene trading at about 27 times this year's expected adjusted earnings, its valuation is still on the topsy side. Even though the company has had a rough transition from a hyper-growth company to a solid-growth company, it still deserves a slight premium on its peers if for no other reason than because Celgene has shown that it can kick it into overdrive.