We've got a pair of related tweets on this week's episode of Biotech Banter. The first is from Jason Napodano, an analyst at Zacks, who asks, "Does anyone actually finish a share buyback in biotech, or do they just announced another one after they get half way through the previous one?"
And then a second one from EP Vantage's Jacob Plieth, who comments, "Here we go-another slap in the face of the small biotech M&A thesis."
Both are referring to Gilead Sciences' (GILD -2.70%) recent announcement that its board had approved a $5 billion stock buyback. That's on top of the $2.9 billion remaining from the last $5 billion buyback.
In the video below, senior biotech specialist Brian Orelli and health-care analyst David Williamson debate whether it's better for large biotechs such as Gilead, Celgene (CELG), and Biogen Idec (BIIB 0.23%), to buy back shares, use the cash to purchase companies to bolster their pipelines, or to follow Amgen's (AMGN -1.33%) lead and return cash to investors in the form of a dividend.
