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SCO Group reiterates BUY rating on Medarex
03/05/01 08:38 AM
Source: SCO Group, LLC
SCO Group reiterates BUY on Medarex, Inc. after the Company's release of 4Q00 and FY00
financial results. Results exceeded our expectations, and we view the current weakness in the
stock price as a buying opportunity for long-term investors.
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Medarex, Inc.
Reports 4Q00 and FY00 Earnings Results; More products in Testing Than Expected Leads to
Higher Revenues than Expected; Large Number of Marquee Clients Validates Technology;
Reiterating BUY Recommendation
SUMMARY OF RECENT
EVENTS
Medarex, Inc. (“MEDX”)
announced Monday that it
had entered into a three-year
alliance with Biosite
Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ:
BSTE) and Eos Biotech, a
private company, to generate
antibodies to
genomics-derived targets.
Under the terms of the
agreement, Eos will provide
an undisclosed number of
targets (which we estimate
as between 10 and 100) and
diagnostic rights to Biosite in
return for access to MEDX’s
Trans-phage technology to
develop Omniclonal antibodies in order to identify and develop anti-cancer product candidates. In
our view, this deal will accelerate the development of therapeutic products.
The Company also released earnings results for 4Q00 and FY00. For the year ended December
31, 2000, MEDX earned $22.4 million in product and contract revenue, well ahead of our
estimates. Net loss for the year from ongoing operations was $14.7 million, or $0.21 per share.
Its 33% ownership stake in Genmab A/S, which went public in October 2000, resulted in a
one-time tax gain of $21 million of interest and dividend income. This one-time gain resulted in
FY00 net income of $3.3 million, or $0.03 per share. MEDX ended the year with cash and
equivalents of $344 million.
Most of the Company’s revenues came from its UltiMAb “mouse” deals that are structured so
that MEDX receives payments as product development progresses. In our view, MEDX’s
financial results were quite encouraging, especially as we believe that the higher than expected
revenues resulted from the Company’s partners’ progression of more products through
early-phase testing than we had anticipated. We expect this to naturally lead to more products
advancing into clinical development and commercialization. Indeed, during its conference call,
management stated an expectation that 10-12 INDs would be filed by the end of calendar 2001,
which we estimate will result in $15-24 million in milestone revenue to MEDX
MEDX has seen its stock decline considerably this year, but we do not believe that this is
reflective of Company fundamentals. Rather, we interpret the stock’s performance as indicative
of the downturn in the broader market and a “wait and see” attitude on the part of investors
towards ‘functional genomics’ plays, creating a buying opportunity, in our view. We believe that
MEDX is the leader in human antibody development. Further, the Company’s strong technology
platform, its list of 30 marquee partners such as Eli Lilly, Merck and Amgen (to say nothing of
the speed with which the Company is entering into partnerships) that provide strong validation of
the technology and business model should provide assurance to investors that MEDX’s
fundamentals are sound, and that the long-term outlook for the stock remains strong. We are
reiterating our BUY rating and recommend purchase of stock for those investors tolerant of the
risks associated with biotechnology stocks.
Gruß Dampf