Gilead Continues to Soar

I made a big mistake last year in taking Gilead Sciences ($GILD) off the Buy List. The shares are up more than 72% YTD, and are up big again today.

Shares of Gilead Sciences (GILD) popped more than 11% early Monday after the biotech reported over the weekend that its hepatitis C regimen produced a 100% cure rate in a late-stage trial.

At the annual Liver Meeting in Boston, Gilead reported that all 25 patients in the study showed a sustained virological response after a 12-week course of treatment with standard oral treatment ribavirin along with Gilead’s two drug candidates, GS-5885 and sofosbuvir (formerly known as GS-7977). The group included only patients with genotype 1 of the virus, which accounts for about 70% of all U.S. hepatitis C cases, who had never been treated before. Patients with genotypes 2 and 3 had response rates in the 60s, while genotype 1 patients who’d failed previous treatment responded only at a 10% rate.

The stock gave us nothing but grief last year, but has been a rock star in 2012. Peter Lynch once said that the best stock to buy is often one you already own. I’m kicking myself for letting Gilead go. The lesson is that when you buy out-of-favor stocks, the turnaround often takes longer than you think.

Posted by on November 12th, 2012 at 10:49 am


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