Oppenheimer Has Outperform On Amgen

Oppenheimer & Co. has an Overweight rating and a $66 price target on shares of Amgen AMGN. In a note to clients, Oppenheimer & Co. writes, "On 6/24, the FDA issued a new Epogen label, with more conservative dosing. Previously, the label guided to dosing that achieved hemoglobin (Hg) levels between 10-12 g/dl. However, the FDA has removed this range from the label and now recommends reducing/interrupting dosing, when chronic kidney disease patients exceed 10g/dl or 11g/dl, depending on dialysis use. Despite this label revision, we do not see significant downside to our estimates as we already model an ~19% decline in Epogen sales from 2010 to 2012 due to conservative physician treatment practices and ESRD bundling. We believe AMGN's current valuation already reflects bearish ESA franchise expectations and we believe the stock is undervalued, based what we view as attractive near-term revenue growth for Xgeva/Prolia." Shares of AMGN closed at $57.04 on Friday.