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The following ratings changes were generated on Aug. 5.
Shares of ImClone Systems were upgraded to buy from hold Tuesday. The New York-based health-care company specializes in the development of treatment for cancer patients. This is driven by multiple strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover.
ImClone's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 1.4%. Over the same quarter a year ago, revenue rose by 10.7%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.
Compared to where it was trading one year ago, ImClone's share price has jumped by 95.57%, exceeding the performance of the broader market during that same time frame. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, ImClone should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
ImClone's earnings per share, or EPS, declined by 19.4% in the most recent quarter compared to a year ago. The company has suffered a pattern of declining EPS over the past two years. However, we anticipate this trend will reverse over the coming year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.21, vs. 45 cents).
ImClone's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73 is somewhat low overall, but it is high when compared to the industry average, implying that management of the debt levels should be evaluated further.
The change in net income from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500 but is less than that of the biotechnology industry average. Net income has decreased by 20.7% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $31.91 million to $25.29 million.
ImClone had been rated a hold since Nov. 28, 2007.
