Big caps hitting the numbers
Big cap biotechs started the second quarter earnings season with a bang, as six of the seven profitable top tier companies that reported earnings last week met or beat their Street estimates. The market provided some rewards for performance, but kicked Genentech around after choosing to view DNA's cup as half-full (see "Up-Beat").
Investors lopped $2.13 billion (5 percent) off the company's market cap on the week, ignoring strong sales of Rituxan to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and the fact that DNA met its Street EPS estimate of $0.29 for the quarter, focusing instead on sales of Herceptin to treat breast cancer. Sales of the antibody came in at $66.7 million, up 44 percent from $46.2 million in the 1999 quarter but below the $70-$75 million the Street was hoping to see, and $1.1 million below first quarter sales of $68.7 million...