Reaction to "light" Genentech drug sales disappointing Street

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Biotechnology company Genentech Inc DNA.N reported higher fourth-quarter profit on Monday, but lighter-than-expected sales for cancer drugs such as Avastin and Herceptin weighed on shares.

Genentech's stock price fell 2.3 percent on the news to $69 in after-hours trade after closing at $70.64.

COMMENTS

CHRIS RAYMOND, ANALYST, ROBERT BAIRD

"They beat consensus by two pennies but what everyone looks at ... is the Avastin number, and Avastin revenue came in light."

"Because this is such a still high-growth drug, any little miss tends to have a disproportionate reaction."

JASON KANTOR, ANALYST, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

"I thought the quarter looked fairly as I had expected," said Kantor, who said he was looking for a profit excluding items of 70 cents per share, versus the company's reported 69 cents.

"Avastin was fairly in line. We were looking for sales of $610 million. They came in at $603 million."

"Oncology sales were more or less in line. Royalties were a bit higher than expected."

"Key oncology products were fairly in line. Tarceva was a little better, Avastin and Herceptin were a little lighter."

"We did not expected them to give very bullish guidance," due to a variety of unknowns. "It was solid but on the conservative side."

DOUG CHOW, ANALYST, CARIS & CO.

"(Net) earnings per share came in at 59 cents ... this was in line with our expectation of 59 cents "

He said Avastin, Rituxan and Herceptin sales came in a bit below expectations, but by very little. "It was a few million dollars here and there."

"Overall, we're neutral on the quarter."

MIKE KING, ANALYST, RODMAN & RENSHAW

"Every single product relative to Street consensus was light. When you've got the biggest products that are the biggest growth drivers -- Avastin and Lucentis -- light, that's disappointing.

"It's not the economy -- it's just a company that has to figure out how to reinvigorate growth, and unfortunately that is not part of the picture, at least for the first half of '08."

(Reporting by Peter Henderson, Lisa Baertlein and Lewis Krauskopf)