Amgen "reduce," target price reduced

16.05.07 - UBS

NEW YORK, May 16 (newratings.com) - Analyst Maged Shenouda of UBS maintains his "reduce" rating on Amgen Inc (AMGN), while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price has been reduced from $56 to $54.

In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that Aranesp sales estimates for 2007 and 2010 have been reduced from $4.1 billion to $4.0 billion and from $4.0 billion to $3.6 billion, respectively, based on the analysis of the CMS National Coverage. The analyst expects the reimbursement cuts proposed by the CMS to result in a decline of more than 50% in the drug?s oncology sales going forward. The EPS estimates for 2007 and 2008 have been reduced from $3.77 to $3.76 and from $4.15 to $4.07, respectively.