With no major health-care conferences on the docket this week, and the Food and Drug Administration ruling two days early on Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)‘s multiple myeloma drug, Pomalyst, this week’s main focus is earnings, earnings, and more earnings. Just as we did last week, we have five big names reporting, and you’d be small-“f” foolish to miss out on any of them.
The week starts off with an important report from my personal No. 1 biotech to watch in 2013, Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL). The fourth-quarter report, expected Monday, shouldn’t include any major surprises. What I’ll be looking for, however, is the company’s updated 2013 sales forecast now that Cometriq, its metastatic medullary thyroid cancer drug, is available in the United States. I’d keep your eye on Exelixis’ cash balance, but I don’t anticipate that it will dip all too much. Cometriq’s sales forecast could be the factor that causes this company to move up or down in a big way.
Health-benefit solutions provider WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG) steps up to the plate on Wednesday and should offer an interesting report from a value investors’ perspective, as it’s been the laggard of the group. The Affordable Care Act is expected to cap insurers’ earnings and disallow them from turning away patients with pre-existing conditions, but it also will bring millions of newly insured Americans into the fold. I suspect thast WellCare’s guidance will be in-line with, if not higher than, what’s currently projected on Wall Street as investors underestimate the cost-cutting ability of the health-benefits sector.
Finally, Thursday will bring the two most important reports of the week from the biotech sector: Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN).
Alexion, maker of Soliris, the most expensive drug in the world, is expected to report a profit of $0.53 on 39% sales growth to $316.5 million. While an earnings beat appears all but in the cards given its average beat of 22.7% over the previous four quarters, I’m concerned with how intricately tied to Soliris Alexion’s pipeline has become. If Soliris is unable to gain additional indications, or physicians run into reimbursement problems with the spendy drug, then its price-to-sales ratio of 17 will come crashing down like a ton of bricks.
Regeneron, on the other hand, will be looking to keep the good times rolling with its wet age-related macular degeneration wonder drug, Eylea. Sales in the upcoming quarter are expected to jump 219% with earnings of $1.11 per share, reversing a year-ago loss of $0.54. Considering that Regeneron and Sanofi also gained EU approval for Zaltrap as a second-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer just last week, I’ll be looking for Regeneron to once again be boosting its guidance.
The article 5 Can’t-Miss Health-Care Events This Week originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.
Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Exelixis.
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