Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Pfizer Inc., Wyeth, Satyam Computer Services Ltd., Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific Inc.

Business Wire, April 07, 2009

http://www.profits.zacks.com/

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: Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (NYSE: SAY), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) and Boston Scientific Inc. (NYSE: BSX).

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Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Pfizer Kept at a Hold

At the current level, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is trading at 7.2x our 2009 EPS estimate of $1.89. We recently downgraded our recommendation on the shares from Buy to Hold based on our reservations that Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) will provide the opportunity to grow revenue for the long-term, the significant reduction in the company's net cash balance and the substantially lower than expected financial guidance for 2009. Pfizer's decision to cut its dividend also contributed to our downgrade.

Revenue guidance for 2009 of $44 - $46 billion (including negative $3 billion affect from forex) is significantly below our prior expectations of $49 billion. We believe this reflects greater-than-previously-expected weakness in some of the company's key products, including Lipitor, Viagra and Chantix. Pfizer expects EPS in the range of $1.85 - $1.95, including lower interest income and a higher tax rate related to the proposed Wyeth acquisition.

Satyam Up Huge on News Items

Shares of India-based Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (NYSE: SAY, Sell) are up a stunning 50% in intra-day trading crossing the $3 mark briefly. The scandal-plagued company’s shares had fallen dramatically following the news of the fraud perpetrated by its ex-CEO in December 2008, bringing its market capitalization down to <$500 million, compared to nearly $7 billion back in May, 2008.

Two related news items are apparently sparking the move. First, the Indian authorities announced today that they have arrested three senior executives of the company’s finance department in connection with the fraud investigation. (Note: we were all along of the opinion that the scale of fraud committed couldn’t have been pulled off just by the ex-CEO and his brother, a co-founder of Satyam).

Abbott's Stent Bests BSX's

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) reported long-term results (comparison of years two and three) for its Spirit II clinical trial at the i2 Summit at the American College of Cardiology's 58th annual scientific session. The trial compared the XIENCE V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System (ABT) against Boston Scientific Inc.'s (NYSE: BSX) TAXUS Express2 and TAXUS Liberte stents.

ABT’s product was the clear winner. Between years two and three, the observed cardiac death rate for the XIENCE V stent remained at 0.5%. For the same time period, the same measure for TAXUS more than tripled to 4.2%. When comparing major adverse cardiac events (MACE), the rate for XIENCE V remained unchanged at 6.4%, while the rate for TAXUS increased 42% to 14.9%. MACE includes events such as cardiac death, heart attack (myocardial infarction or MI), and ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization (ID-TLR driven by lack of blood supply).

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