Alexion Pharmaceuticals: All about growth

This biotech's Soliris drug treatment can cost $400,000 per patient.

By TheStockAdvisors Oct 13, 2011 12:42PM
By Nicholas Vardy, Global Bull Market Alert

As we enter the start of earnings season, it's time to up your bets on stocks going into what traditionally has been the strongest quarter for the stock market.

Among the fast-growing major biotechs announcing earnings in the coming weeks is our latest buy recommendation, Connecticut-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN).

Despite the market pullback, ALXN has risen steadily on expectations of more approved uses for its only drug on the market, Soliris.

Soliris today is the only drug approved to treat a rare blood disorder called paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).

PNH is life-threatening, and the drug can cost a patient $400,000 for full treatment.

But ALXN is also expanding Soliris’ label -- that is, the diseases Soliris can be used to treat. On Sept. 26, the U.S. FDA approved Soliris' use to treat a disease called atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, or aHUS.

And the European Committee for Medical Products for Human Use, or CHMP, recommended that the same indication be extended to Soliris in Europe. Alexion expects final European Union approval in about two months.

There was further encouraging news for Alexion last month when Soliris fared well in a mid-stage study which evaluated the drug in another indication.

The study involved patients suffering from severe and refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG). Encouraged by the positive results, the company intends to evaluate Soliris for the gMG indication further.

As you would expect with a typical biotech stock, Alexion is all about growth. During recent quarters, year-over-year earnings per share (EPS) has grown 36%, 33%, 32%, 63%, 58% and 45%.

Sales growth in recent quarters has jumped 34%, 43%, 45%, 36%, 38%, 41% and 48%. 2011 and 2012 annual EPS estimates are for gains of 34% and 39%, respectively.

Alexion will report its financial results for Q3 on Thursday, October 20, 2011, before the financial markets open.

The stock might see a pop on earnings, as Alexion has a habit of beating Wall Street expectations, having done so for five straight quarters.

Related articles



0Comments

DATA PROVIDERS

Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.

Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.

Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.

STOCK SCOUTER

StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.

131
131 rated 1
262
262 rated 2
442
442 rated 3
601
601 rated 4
718
718 rated 5
587
587 rated 6
610
610 rated 7
456
456 rated 8
279
279 rated 9
124
124 rated 10
12345678910

Top Picks

SYMBOLNAMERATING
ABTAbbott Laboratories10
AIGAmerican International Group Inc10
ATVIActivision Blizzard Inc10
CACA Inc10
CSCOCisco Systems Inc10
More
Fidelity Brokerage Services, Member NYSE, SIPC. (c) 2011 FMR LLC. All rights reserved

VIDEO ON MSN MONEY

ABOUT

Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.

Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.

Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.