Amgen's surprise

Amgen's discouraging revelations for Epogen sales sent surprised analysts scrambling to adjust their earnings projections last week (see chart), but it was an exercise done largely without guidance from management.

The stock dropped $6.9375 to $50.1875 on 22.9 million shares on Tuesday, after the company disclosed in its second quarter 10-Q that the growth rate for Epogen will be below previous company expectations for the remainder of 1997. AMGN, which was the most active NASDAQ issue on Tuesday, closed the week at $48.562, down 15 percent...