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Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Amylin, Sony and MannKind.


CHICAGO -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Amylin Pharmaceuticals Amylin Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, CA, that was founded in 1987. Currently, Amylin produces two drugs, Symlin (pramlintide acetate) and Byetta (exenatide). Amylin also is working on producing a drug based on Leptin. , Inc. (Nasdaq: AMLN), Sony (NYSE NYSE

See: New York Stock Exchange
: SNE SNe Supernovae (astronomy)
SNE Sony Corporation (stock symbol)
SNE Syndicat National de l'edition (French Publisher's Association)
SNE Society for Nutrition Education
) and MannKind (Nasdaq: MNKD).

See the latest posts to the Analyst Blog by visiting: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2673

Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

Tougher Times Ahead for Amylin

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMLN) is engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of potential drug candidates for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases Cardiovascular disease
Disease that affects the heart and blood vessels.

Mentioned in: Lipoproteins Test

cardiovascular disease 
. The top-line is being driven by sales of two diabetes drugs, Byetta and Symlin. Sales of both drugs were lower than expected in the most recent quarter due to heavy sampling and increased competition.

We think the competitive landscape is only getting worse for Amylin, and despite the fact that we are enthusiastic about the early-to-mid stage pipeline, we feel the name is overvalued Overvalued

A stock whose current price is not justified by the earnings outlook or price/earnings (P/E) ratio and thus, expected to drop in price. Overvaluation may result from an emotional buying spurt, which inflates the market price of the stock or from a deterioration in a
. Amylin trades at 50x our 2010 EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) A PostScript file format used to transfer a graphic image between applications and platforms. EPS files contain PostScript code as well as an optional preview image in TIFF, WMF, PICT or EPSI, the latter being an ASCII-only format.  estimate of $0.92. This is a significant premium to the peer group. We would avoid the name. Our target is $36.

Based on our long-term earnings model -- which we believe to be generally in-line with consensus -- the stock is significantly overvalued at $48 per share. We project $0.92 in EPS in 2010 based on $1.6 billion in total revenues. This equates to a forward P/E forward P/E

The price-earnings ratio of a firm's common stock calculated as the current stock price divided by estimated earnings per share for the coming year. Compare trailing P/E.
 ratio of 52.5x, well above the peer group which currently trades around 18x 2010 EPS.

Sony Still Warrants a Sell Rec

We believe Sony (NYSE: SNE) will continue to struggle as it faces competition from innovative digital products and struggles to ramp production of its PlayStation 3. In addition, Sony is facing increasing competition from low-cost manufacturers in Asia as the consumer market slows.

We therefore maintain a Sell recommendation on SNE shares with a price target of $38.00. Although Sony maintains strong distribution channels and a brand name, we would avoid the stock until the company demonstrates sustainable improvements in results.

Our six-month price target of $38.00 reflects a P/E P/E

See: Price/earnings ratio
 multiple of approximately 14.6x our estimated fiscal 2007 EPADR of $2.60, which we believe is a reasonable discount to the S&P for a company in Sony's position. In spite of its difficulties, Sony is currently trading at 18.0x estimated fiscal 2007 ending March 31, 2008 EPADR.

Difficult Times for MannKind

MannKind (Nasdaq: MNKD) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutic products for diabetes, cancer and inflammatory diseases. Its lead product, the Technosphere Insulin System for the treatment of diabetes, is in phase III Noun 1. phase III - a large clinical trial of a treatment or drug that in phase I and phase II has been shown to be efficacious with tolerable side effects; after successful conclusion of these clinical trials it will receive formal approval from the FDA  trials in the U.S.

We believe Technosphere has certain intriguing beneficial characteristics that could make the product a success. However, the company has been unable to find a partner for the drug, competition is fierce in this field, commercialization is still at least three years away and the company is burning cash at too high a rate.

We downgrade the stock from Hold to Sell with a revised target price of $6.00. Our target price is derived from our estimated total revenue of $113 million in 2010, multiplied by a P/S P/S

See: Price to sales
 [price-to-sales] ratio of 10.0x and discounted back at 25% for three years (assuming weighted average number of shares of 97 million).

See the latest posts to the Analyst Blog by visiting http://at.zacks.com/?id=2645.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis Qualitative Analysis

Securities analysis that uses subjective judgment based on nonquantifiable information, such as management expertise, industry cycles, strength of research and development, and labor relations.
 to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day"
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A firm that compiles earnings estimates and brokerage firm investment recommendations for thousands of publicly traded firms.
, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Sep 12, 2007
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