24/7 Wall Street

Amgen (AMGN) got a bit of good news last week, but just a bit. The company’s Aranesp anemia drug for small cell lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy did not cause more deaths in patients in a recent trial when compared with a group taking a placebo. There had been concerns to the contrary.

The stock closed at $60 the day before the disclosure. It jumped above $64 three trading days ago, and stock tried to rally into earnings but ended up nearly flat at $62.19. The good drug news could not prop the shares up.

Over the last year, the company has underperformed its rival Genentech (DNA) which is up less that 5% while Amgen is down about 7%.

Wall St. expected Amgen to post earnings of $1.08 a share, according to a poll of analysts conducted by Thomson Financial, vs. 91 cents a share in the first quarter of 2006. Revenue was expected to rise to $3.73 billion from $3.22 billion in the same period last year. 

As it turned out, total revenue increased 15 percent during the first quarter of 2007 to $3,687 million versus $3,217 million in the first quarter of 2006. The company reported reported adjusted earnings per share, excluding stock option expense and certain other expenses, of $1.08 for the first quarter of 2007, an increase of 19 percent compared to $0.91 during the first quarter of 2006.

It was "kiss your sister" earnings news, and the stock moved was flat after hours at 4.10 PM

Douglas A. McIntyre