Gilead Sciences (GILD) reported another strong quarter with earnings per share coming in at $0.90, well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.82 and the year-ago quarter’s earnings of $0.59. For the full year, the company reported a 31% growth in revenues.
We remain optimistic about growth of HIV/AIDS franchise drugs Truvada and Atripla. Earnings over the past few quarters have consistently been above expectations, specifically on strong sales of the HIV franchise products.
Meanwhile, the worldwide panic regarding swine-flu boosted the reported quarter’s royalty income, a trend we expect to continue, thanks to increased sales of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu. Given these factors, we upgrade the stock to Outperform.Zacks Investment Research
