3 Big Pharmaceutical Stocks Will Have Rising Q1 Earnings

With Friday’s big sell-off making already nervous investors even more gun-shy, large pharmaceutical stocks may be an outstanding place to move money now. The Cowen team expect AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) and Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) to have rising first-quarter earnings. All are rated Outperform.

AbbVie

AbbVie is the stock that the Cowen analysts feel can come in with an outstanding increase in first-quarter earnings. They predict the company will increase earnings by an incredible 17%. They also expect sales at the company to increase a very solid 10%. In particular, they see sales of the company’s blockbuster drug Humira up a sizable 15%.

Wall Street had started to become concerned over lower expectations for the company’s new hepatitis C therapy Viekira Pak, when the biggest concern was really a price war with competitors. Toss in a $21 billion purchase recently of Pharmacyclics, which some have said is way too high, and some volatility has crept into the stock.

The bottom line is the company has a killer pipeline, and the Cowen team is very positive on the stock, citing numerous drivers that may be an “iceberg” of positive catalysts for the stock in 2015 and beyond.

AbbVie investors are paid an outstanding 3.3% dividend. The Cowen price target for the stock is $70. The Thomson/First Call consensus target is $69.75. AbbVie closed Friday at $62.29.

ALSO READ: 5 Big Biotechs Not Keeping Up With the Hot Sector in 2015

Bristol-Myers Squibb

This is a pharmaceutical company that the Cowen analysts estimate will grow earnings in the first quarter by a very impressive 11%. While the earnings are expected to grow, they are actually forecasting a 1% drop in total sales. But the analysts are estimating a 10% increase in Orencia sales to a whopping $400 million.

The company announced recently plans to invest in Dutch biotech company uniQure in order to get access to their coveted gene therapy technology platform for cardiovascular diseases. The two companies agreed to work together to battle these diseases with gene therapy.

Bristol-Myers investors are paid a 2.3% dividend. The Cowen price target is $70. The consensus is posted at $65.90. Shares closed trading Friday at $65.35.

Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly is expected to increase earnings in the first quarter by 4%, while sales are expected to drop at the company by 5%. Humalog sales are expected to increase 1% to $655 million. Cialis and Cymbalta are also looking to substantially add to earnings for the quarter.

The company announced recently that it is preparing to resume the Phase 3 study on its chronic pain candidate, tanezumab with partner Pfizer. The FDA had imposed a partial hold on tanezumab and all other anti-nerve growth factor antibodies because of some adverse events (which were initially described as osteonecrosis), all of which led to total joint replacement.

Investors are paid a 2.8% dividend. Cowen has a big $85 target, and the consensus target is lower at $76.94. The stock closed Friday at $72.47 a share.

ALSO READ: 4 Biotech and Pharma Stocks Projected to Rise 50% to 100%

With the market looking increasingly wobbly, investing in big-cap pharma might be a very good plan for the rest of 2015. The market may be lining up for a needed correction to put valuations back in a more reasonable range.