The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Celgene, Nissan Motor, Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Daimler

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Jan 11, 2012, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 Celgene Corporation (Nasdaq: CELG), Nissan Motor Co. (OTC: NSANY), Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) and Daimler (OTC: DDAIF).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

Celgene's Prelim Earnings Impress

Celgene Corporation's (Nasdaq: CELG) fourth quarter 2011 preliminary unaudited adjusted (excluding stock-based compensation expense and other special items) earnings of $1.05 per share were above the year-ago earnings by approximately 46%.

Adjusted earnings (excluding stock-based compensation expense and other special items) for the full year 2011 climbed approximately 36% year over year to $3.79 per share. The year-over-year beat was attributable to strong sales of Celgene's cancer products Revlimid (up 30% to $3.2 billion), Vidaza (up 32% to $705 million) and Abraxane ($386 million).

Abraxane was added to Celgene's portfolio following the acquisition of Abraxis BioScience Inc. in October 2010. The Zacks Consensus Estimates currently stand at $1.00 and $3.38 per share for the fourth quarter and full year 2011, respectively.

Preliminary adjusted revenues in the final quarter of 2011 came in at $1.28 billion, marginally short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.3 billion. Adjusted revenues in the final quarter of 2011 were, however, 22% above the year-ago figure.

For full year 2011, sales came in at $4.8 billion, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate, but 34% above the year-ago sales. The actual results will be disclosed on January 26, 2012.

Rosy 2012 Forecast

Apart from announcing preliminary results, Celgene also provided a bright outlook for 2012. Adjusted earnings (excluding stock-based compensation expense and other special items) are projected in the range of $4.70-$4.80 per share, up 25%. Including the impact of stock-based compensation expense, 2012 earnings are expected in the range of $4.17-$4.32 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2012 is $3.98 per share.

Adjusted revenues are projected in the range of $5.4-$5.6 billion, up 15%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is at the lower-end of the guidance ($5.4 billion). Revlimid is expected to continue its strong performance. Sales of the drug are projected in the range of $3.75 - $3.85 billion, up 19%.

Celgene's key growth engine, Revlimid, is currently available for the multiple myeloma (MM) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) indications. Celgene is working on expanding Revlimid's label into other indications. The efforts will continue throughout 2012. Moreover, Celgene has other interesting candidates in its pipeline.

Our Recommendation

We continue to have an Outperform recommendation on Celgene. We believe that Celgene, driven by its impressive oncology portfolio, expansion efforts, strong balance sheet and robust pipeline, will continue to outperform the broader market in the coming quarters.

Our optimism is justified by the Zacks #2 Rank (Buy rating) carried by the stock in the short run.

Nissan Sees U.S. as Safe Haven

Japan's third largest automaker Nissan Motor Co. (OTC: NSANY) seems to consider the U.S. market a safe haven when its alliance partner, Renault, is significantly exposed to the Eurozone crisis due to its strong position in France.

Both Nissan and Renault plan to boost their allied company's production capacity in the U.S. as both of its car manufacturing plants in Smyrna, Tennessee and Canton, Mississippi, are expected to run at full capacity by early 2013.

At the same time, the alliance is cutting back inventory, limiting investment and reducing costs at its European operations as sales in the European car market dipped by more than 1% in 2011 and are expected to deteriorate further by 3% in 2012.

Nissan is performing much better than its Japanese rivals in the U.S. The company showed early recovery from the disruptions in parts supply emanating from the twin disasters in Japan and severe floods in Thailand compared with Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC).

Last month, the company's U.S. sales increased 8% to 100,927 vehicles, driven by a 10.7% rise in Nissan brand vehicles. For the full year, its sales appreciated 15% to 1.04 million vehicles.

Nissan expected to benefit further from improving sales trends in the U.S., driven by strong pent-up demand and low interest rates. Last year, sales in the U.S. rose 10% to 12.8 million vehicles, the highest achieved since 2008 when the financial crisis came knocking.

Recently, Nissan entered a joint venture with Daimler's (OTC: DDAIF) Mercedes Benz division to manufacture engines at the former's engine-assembly plant in Decherd, Tennessee. The plant will produce four-cylinder gasoline engines for new Mercedes and Infiniti compact sedans that will be manufactured in North America beginning 2014. Nissan also plans to build a new plant in Mexico and expand further in the U.S.

The Zacks#1 Rank (Strong Buy) company posted a 12% fall in profit to ¥183.4 billion ($2.3 billion) in the first half of fiscal 2012 due to a strong yen that more than offset the positive impact from its recovery from the disasters in Japan in March. Sales inched up marginally by 1.1% to ¥4.367 trillion ($54.73 billion) during the period.

During the second quarter ended September 30, 2011, the company's profit ebbed 3% to ¥98.4 billion ($1.2 billion) from ¥101.7 billion in the same period a year ago.

Despite the disappointing results, the automaker lifted its annual forecast of profit to ¥290 billion from the previous outlook of ¥270 billion.

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