For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – November 17, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Sealed Air Corporation (SEE) as the Bull of the Day and Hologic, Inc. (HOLX) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Genzyme Corp.(GENZ), Shire plc (SHPGY) and Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc. (PLX).
Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5506
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Sealed Air Corporation (SEE) reported third quarter 2009 EPS of 38 cents, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents and the prior-year EPS of 28 cents. The company raised its full-year 2009 EPS guidance to a range between $1.37-$1.45.
The company expects to continue to realize benefits from its cost reduction and productivity programs in the fourth quarter. Also, the company is witnessing improved market conditions in developing nations. Sealed Air posted double-digit sales increases in some of these markets.
Based on the improved outlook, as well as the company’s efforts to revitalize its bottom-line, we are upgrading the rating on the stock to Outperform.
Hologic, Inc. (HOLX) reported fourth quarter earnings of 28 cents per share, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 26 cents, but a couple of cents below the year-ago earnings. For fiscal 2009, the company earned $1.17 per share, a cent below the year-ago earnings.
Revenues declined 8.9% in the reported quarter and 2% in fiscal 2009. We remain concerned about the decline, which is largely attributable to the stringent economic and capital spending environment.
Furthermore, Hologic’s strategy to grow by acquisitions has inherent risks. Strong competition confronting the company’s products also concerns us. Consequently, we downgrade the stock to Underperform with a price target of $14.
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Contamination Issues Haunt GENZ
Biotech company Genzyme Corp.(GENZ), faced yet another setback recently when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that vials of five drugs marketed by the company were found to be contaminated.
The affected drugs include Cerezyme, Myozyme, Fabrazyme, Aldurazyme and Thyrogen. All these drugs, excluding Thyrogen, are indicated for the treatment of rare disorders. The vials were found to be contaminated with stainless steel fragments, non-latex rubber from the vial stopper, and fiber-like material from the manufacturing process which could potentially harm patients.
As adverse events are yet to be reported and given the lack of alternative treatments for these drugs which treat rare disorders, the FDA did not issue a product recall. Instead, Genzyme has issued letters to U.S. healthcare providers reminding them to conduct a visual inspection of the vials and to filter them before using the products.
Genzyme has been battling with contamination issues at its Allston manufacturing plant since June when the company had to temporarily halt production due to contamination.
The temporary shutdown of the plant had a severe impact on the company’s financial results with sales of Genzyme’s lead product, Cerezyme, dropping 69.7% to $93.6 million in the third quarter of 2009. In addition to Cerezyme, Fabrazyme sales were also affected (down 8%).
Although Genzyme expects to resume supply of new lots of Cerezyme from late November, we fear that concerns regarding contamination may drive patients and physicians to use Shire plc’s (SHPGY) velaglucerase alfa and Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc.’s (PLX) Uplyso, both of which are currently available under the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) expanded access program.
Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.
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