Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Dell, Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Theravance, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca

Business Wire, April 11, 2008

CHICAGO -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Dell, Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Theravance, Inc. (Nasdaq: THRX), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN).

See the latest posts to the Analyst Blog: http://www.zacks.com/blog/post_info.html?g=6

Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

Lowering Hold-Rated DELL Target

When we upgraded Dell, Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL) shares, our thesis was that margins were beginning to improve and new initiatives would improve the top-line. Although we are impressed with new revenue initiatives, investments in the business have driven higher operating expenses. Although Dell has shown a renewed focus on the consumer through new products and a retail presence, this comes at a challenging time as consumer spending weakens.

Dell is expected to announce results for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 on May 29, 2008. The company has not provided any guidance for the quarter; however, we expect $0.35 in EPS on $15,839 million in operating revenues. For the full year, EPS is expected to be $1.57 on operating revenues of $65,495 million. However, the company is facing difficult times as it struggles to gain ground against Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

Although the company is working to grow its consumer business, slowing consumer spending in the U.S. is making this difficult. Moreover, the stock is likely to be volatile as investors would rather see the company focus on operating expenses, which is easier to execute than top-line growth.

Hold Theravance in Near Term

Theravance Inc. (Nasdaq: THRX) is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule medicines across a number of therapeutic areas. In March 2008, the FDA accepted the company's response to the "approvable" letter issued in October 2007, and the agency has set a PDUFA date of July 21, 2008. We expect a U.S. launch of the drug to occur by August 2008 provided the company satisfactorily deals with the manufacturing issues, site monitoring and conduct concerns raised by the FDA.

Theravance has a deep pipeline of exciting, late-stage compounds. The company has significant development and commercialization collaborations with Astellas for Telavancin, with GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) for the LABA, LAMA and the MABA programs and with AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) for IV anesthetic compounds. The company is also looking to partner TD-1792, a next-generation Vancomycin, and TD-5108 for chronic use. Both compounds have completed phase II studies and phase III trials for the compounds are expected to commence in 2008.

Despite the likely launch of the company's first drug in 2008, it's the company's Beyond Advair collaboration with GSK which we are excited about. The deal holds significant value for the company and could eventually drive the company to profitability. However, approval of one or more of the compounds under the collaboration is not expected before 2011.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.

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