Our screen process did not limit the scope to positive earnings, but we did use a minimum market valuation of $1 billion to avoid the smaller and even more speculative names in an already speculative sector.  The companies are all expected to rise 20% more and include the following stocks tied to biotech and the biohealth sectors: ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD); Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN); Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY); Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAZZ); Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE); and Theravance, Inc. (NASDAQ: THRX).

Unfortunately, some of these are biotech implosions where companies have run into problems. Others are pre-revenue and could be tomorrow’s drug giants in cancer and other indicated treatments.  Some may even be acquired.  We have included the current share price and recent price history, as well as based the implied upside upon the consensus price target objective from Thomson Reuters.  Recent fundamental data and color has been added on each if applicable.

There are also the ETF products via the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (NASDAQ: IBB) and the SPDR S&P Biotech (NYSE: XBI).  The iShares variation trades at $104.30 and its 52-week range is $83.96 to $110.02.  Gilead (and Pharmasset) would be the largest implied holding of the iShares ETF with almost 16% weighting combined.  The SPDR variation trades at $66.48 and its 52-week range is $47.01 to $75.17. The SPDR also only contains ARIAD (and Pharmasset) of the biotechs with the most implied upside below. 

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) currently trades around $12.50, has a market cap of about $1.65 billion, and the Thomson Reuters consensus price target of $15.91 leaves an implied upside of about 27%.  Its 52-week trading range is $5.04 to $13.50 and 2011 has been a year where the company’s share price has come close to challenging the prior highs from 1999 to 2000. It is still pre-revenue for the most part and losses are expected to continue at least through 2012.  ARIAD is focused around oncology and its shares are up from a $10.42 per share offering of almost 25 million shares that raised nearly $250 million for the company.  This was one of the good secondary offerings that allows the company to raise development and commercialization funds without becoming dependent solely upon a single partner.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) is another implosion story due to lower adoption rates of PROVENGE for prostate cancer, although some are hoping and expecting that the new reimbursement rates (and physician clarity) may help the company regain some of its lost footing.  At $7.58, the market cap is barely $1.1 billion and the $11.05 Thomson Reuters price target leaves an implied upside of over 45%.  To show just how bad this one has gone, the 52-week trading range is $6.46 to $43.96.

Also Read: Small Caps With 50% Upside in 2012

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) recently traded at $39.88 and it is one of the biotech giants with a market cap of about $30 billion. THe 52-week trading range is $34.45 to $43.49 and the Thomson Reuters consensus price target of $48.86 leaves an implied upside of 22.5%. The last time Gilead was above $50.00 was in early 2009.  Gilead is somewhat surprising to see on the list considering its controversial $11 billion acquisition of Pharmasset when that target acquisition is not expected to generate sales for at least another year.  The company has new HIV medication that is helping to boost the value but the company is diversifying to include more target markets.

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Amgen Corporation (NASDAQ: AMGN) named as value stock of the day by Zacks.
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Cut to Sell from Neutral with new $32 target at Goldman Sachs. 
Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) downgraded to Market Perform from outperform at Wells Fargo.
Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE: CBI) maintained as Buy but removed from the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) maintained Underperform with $35.00 price target and named as Bear of the Day by Zacks.
Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup.
LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) Raised to Equal-Weight at Evercore; Reiterated “Hold” on growth versus valuation and overhang concerns by Argus.
Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) Raised to Outperform with $5.50 target by Zacks and named as the key Bull of the Day.
Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) Started as Buy with $13 price target at UBS.

Here is a summary of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades from this weekend in a summary format for last week’s top (and a few lousy) Wall Street research calls.

JON C. OGG

It appears as though Wall Street favors Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) in the large cap biotech stocks over its peers with more than 18% implied upside.  Other smaller mid-cap biotechs with a high degree of expected upside were Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) of 32%, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) of 50%, and Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY) of over 60%.

Here is the full report on expected upside on these and more than a dozen other large-cap and mid-cap biotech stocks.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) is up again, a day after buyout rumors have circulated for nearly a 100% premium.  We would caution that analysts still have close to the same price target on their own as the reported buyout price target.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) is also still trying to get past its implosion after disappointing Provenge sales.  It has even gone as far as cutting its headcount.  Analysts still see big upside of well above 40% but the entire analyst bias is now very cautious.

Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY) had a very rough July to August period and that analyst upside may be phantom upside that has not yet adjusted for the price drops of the recent past.  We have an early December decision date from the FDA for its myelofibrosis treatment.

As far as how these all compares to the key ETFs, the following should be considered:

iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (NASDAQ: IBB) up 0.5% at $96.50 and the 52-week range is $83.96 to $110.02. Total assets under management are approximately $1.26 billion.

SPDR S&P Biotech (NYSE: XBI) up 0.5% at $63.79 and the 52-week range is $54.71 to $75.86. Total assets under management are approximately $500 million.

Biotech HOLDRs (NYSE: BBH) are up 0.2% on extremely thin volume and the 52-week range is $88.01 to $114.92.  Total assets under management are approximately $240 million.

JON C. OGG

The big winners of 2010 have so far included shares of Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ: ITMN), Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY), Theravance Inc. (NASDAQ: THRX), and ViroPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: VPHM). We have taken a look at what has driven the gains as well as what the prospects are for 2011 and beyond.  FULL REPORT

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) appears to have the most implied upside of the $1 billion and higher catgory, but others included are Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD), Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG), Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI), Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY), and Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACOR).  The full list is available showing the implied upside and we have added color and commentary on each.  FULL REPORT

Stay tuned for many more sector updates in many sectors with winners of 2010 and the outlook for 2011 and beyond!

JON C. OGG

Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE: ARO) Cut to Underweight at KeyBanc.
Arris Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) Started as Hold at Needham.
Biodel, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOD) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Neutral at Ledanberg Thalmann.
EXCO Resources Inc. (NYSE: XCO) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY) Cut to Market Perform at Leerink Swann.
Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) Started as Market Perform at William Blair.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Raised to Buy at CLSA (Asia).
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Started as Market Perform at William Blair.
Sanmina-SCI Corp. (NASDAQ: SANM) Cut to Hold at Collins Stewart.
Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) Started as Underperform at William Blair.
Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. (NYSE: TC) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) Started as Market Perform at William Blair.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY) Started as Outperform at Leerink Swann.
Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Cut to Hold at Kaufman Bros.
Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Research-in-Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
YUM! Brands (NYSE: YUM) Raised to Outperform at RBC Capital.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

• Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
• Incyte (INCY) Started as Buy at Stanford Group.
• Jefferies (JEF) Raised to Market Perform at Wachovia.
• Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) Raised to Sector Perform at RBC.
• TELUS Corp. (TU) Raised to Buy at UBS.
• Webster Financial (WBS) Raised to Buy at Sander O’Neill.

Jon C. Ogg
October 7, 2008

• ADTRAN (ADTN) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
• Advanced Medical Optics (EYE) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
• Constellation Energy (CEG) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
• Holly Corp. (HOC) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
• Incyte Corp. (INCY) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
• Kohl’s (KSS) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
• PetroChina (PTR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
• Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
• Whole Foods (WFMI) Started as Underperform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
September 18, 2008

• Exponent (EXPO) Started as Buy at SunTrust.
• eHealth (EHTH) Started as Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
• Incyte (INCY) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
• Rigel (RIGL) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
• Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods (WBD) Raised to Buy at UBS.
• AMR (AMR) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
• Amylin Pharma (AMLN) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
• BankUnited (BKUNA) Cut To Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.
• National Grid (NGG) Cut to Equal Weight at Lehman.

Jon C. Ogg
August 27, 2008

New data supporting the clinical development of telaprevir (VX-950), what Vertex calls ‘one of the most advanced investigational oral protease inhibitors for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection,’will be presented at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the EuropeanAssociation for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in Barcelona on Saturday,April 14 at 5:45 p.m. in Central Europe (so 11:45 AM EST in the U.S.).Shares are down more than 5% at $29.75 today and its 52-week tradingrange is $26.98 to $45.38.

This stock is down some 5% today and the stock has been very volatilethis week.  This one has been all over the place this year, and be sureto keep in mind that some of the data has already been presented thisweek (hence the drop today); some data is supposed to be under pressembargo until tomorrow.  Some of the data can be viewed as the company website here.

The APRIL $35.00 CALLS are the most active contracts and has tradedmore than 5,000 contracts today.  The open interest in the $35.00 CALLSis more than 24,500 and the $30.00 strike has an open interest of morethan 14,521.  There must be some major bets against the stock too,because the APRIL $30.00 strike PUTS have more than 24,800 listed asthe open interest and the APRIL $25.00 strike lists more than 28,900contracts in the open interest.  The APRIL options expire next Friday.The data presentation tomorrow is what people are betting on, becausethe MAY strike prices have light open interest.

Traders often go too far and an extreme event in one stock can create aflood of interest in any and all stocks that are directly related andeven in the ones that have almost no relationship at all.  If you don’tbelieve me you can look at recent activity in Medarex (MEDX-NASDAQ); here is what we sent out on this.  Look at Cell Genesys (CEGE-NASDAQ) and what we noted on their secondary offering.  Cramer even went over Incyte (INCY-NASDAQ) and Nasteck (NSTK-NASDAQ) as potentials for "the next Dendreon." 

VRTX has been public since before 1995 and used to trade north of $80in 2001.  The company is not profitable and is expected to continuelosing money in 2007 and 2008 by all of the street analysts that coverthe stock.  This one has a $3.8 Billion market cap.

Jon C. Ogg
April 13, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.