We are maintaining our Outperform recommendation on Celgene Corp. (CELG) following impressive preliminary results disclosed for the fourth quarter (adjusted EPS up 46%) and full year 2011 (adjusted EPS up 36%). Preliminary adjusted revenues in the final quarter of 2011 came in at $1.28 billion, 22% above the year-ago figure. For 2011, sales came in at $4.8 billion, up 34%.
The company also gave a bright outlook for 2012 with adjusted earnings expected to improve by 25%. We believe that Celgene, driven by its oncology portfolio and robust pipeline, should easily achieve the 2012 guidance. We believe that the current price represents an attractive entry point for long-term investors.
Based on 2012 P/E estimates, the stock is trading at 17.4x earnings, compared to the industry average of 28.1. Our target price of $87.00 per share is based on 20.8x our 2012 EPS estimate of $4.18.
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