Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Home Depot, Lowe's, Gilead Sciences and Pfizer.

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: Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Lowe's (NYSE: LOW), Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE).

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

Here are highlights from Wednesday's Analyst Blog:

Not Pounding the Table on Home Depot

Home Depot's (NYSE: HD) fourth quarter results were in line with our expectations. The stock's valuation looks cheap relative to historical norms, but a weak housing market still creates significant challenges for the company.

Home Depot is waiting until Feb 28 at its annual investor and analyst conference to discuss its outlook for 2007. We will update our report on Home Depot after the conference. We remain neutral on HD shares. Our target price of $43.50 reflects our view that HD shares will track the market for the next six months.

Despite a weak housing environment, Home Depot s average ticket increased 1.6% to $58.90 in 2006. Moreover, Home Depot is rolling out new store initiatives that should improve its frontline operations. These initiatives include hiring additional associates, increasing management accounts for its contractor business, and having corporate respond quicker to its stores.

The company is facing increasing competition from Lowe's (NYSE: LOW), which is rapidly entering Home Depot's key urban markets. Inconsistent customer service, problematic stock-outs, and older stores are the major competitive hindrances. Lowe's is also spending on technology, and Home Depot will have to continue spending heavily on modernization, customer service, and technology upgrades to compete. This may dampen margins.

Gilead Sciences Strength Continues

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) is a biotechnology company that develops and markets drugs for infectious diseases, including viral, fungal and bacterial infections. The company also has specialized focus on developing drugs for patients suffering from HIV/AIDS. We remain optimistic about growth of HIV/AIDS franchise drugs Truvada and the recently approved Atripla. Fourth quarter earnings were above expectations specifically on strong sales of the newly launched Atripla product.

In November, the company completed the acquisition of Myogen for $2.5 billion in cash. Although dilutive in the near-term, this deal works to fill the pipeline gap beyond 2009. We continue to be positive on the name and have established a price target of $82.

Gilead Sciences is perhaps world s premier play on HIV/AIDS therapy. We consider Truvada a reformulation of drugs Viread and Emtriva to be a potential breakthrough product for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Additionally, the approval of Atripla offers the next big wave of top-line growth for the company.

The acquisition of Myogen fills a significant pipeline void. Ambrisentan should become the best-in-class ETRA [endothelin receptor antagonist] for PAH [phenylalanine hydroxylase], and given the lack of drug-drug interactions seen in the phase III trials, it should be used first-line with Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) Revatio. We have revised our long-term earnings model to include the launch of ambrisentan in the second half of 2007.

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

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