For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 11, 2009 – 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: Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Medtronic Inc. (MDT), Abbott Laboratories (ABT) and St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

BSX Settles, Lowers Results

Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) settled its $296 million lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) related to product advisories issued by its Guidant subsidiary in 2005. The litigation pertained to alleged violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic

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Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) settled its $296 million lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) related to product advisories issued by its Guidant subsidiary in 2005. The litigation pertained to alleged violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by Guidant. The allegations were reported prior to Boston’s acquisition of Guidant in 2006. Boston has recorded the litigation expense in its third quarter of fiscal 2009 results and updated its income statement accordingly. The expense has lowered the company’s GAAP earnings per share by 19 cents into a loss per share of 6 cents in the third quarter of 2009. Adjusted figures remained unaffected by this charge. Boston has also lowered its full fiscal 2009 GAAP earnings per share guidance to a range of 23 to 28 cents, compared to its prior guidance of 43 to 48 cents. The company’s adjusted earnings per share guidance ...

The pharmaceutical industry has witnessed major changes in 2009. Performance has been affected by factors like sluggish prescription trends, intensifying generic competition and limited phase III catalysts. The next five years are expected to reflect a significant imbalance between new product introductions and patent losses. According to IMS Health (RX), this is the main reason why global pharmaceutical market growth will be restricted to the mid-single digits through 2013. Over the next five years, products that currently generate about $137 billion in sales are expected to face generic competition, including Lipitor, Plavix and Seretide. At the same time, new products are not expected to generate the same level of sales as the products losing patent protection have. With most of the big pharma companies already facing patent challenges for their blockbuster products or likely to face them going forward, the companies have been looking toward mergers ...

Celera Corp. (CRA) reported break-even earnings in the third-quarter, compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 6 cents. The company earned a cent in the year-ago quarter.   Net revenues for the quarter came in at $40 million as against $45.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Segment wise revenues from lab services were $24.2 million compared to $30.1 million in the year-ago quarter, primarily because of lower reimbursement rates. Revenues from products came in at $10.0 million compared to $10.5 million in the prior year quarter. Revenues for the quarter were primarily from sales of Celera-manufactured products and royalties from sales of RealTime assays used on the m2000 system from Abbott Molecular, a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories (ABT). Corporate revenues for the quarter came in at $5.8 million as against $5.2 million in the prior year quarter. The $0.6 million increase was primarily attributable ...

Haemonetics Corporation (HAE) reported strong results for the second quarter of fiscal 2010. Earnings per share were 69 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 65 cents and the year-ago earnings of 58 cents. Sales Total revenues in the reported quarter were $157 million, increasing 8% year over year. Excluding a favorable foreign currency translation (FX), revenues increased 6% year over year. On a geographic basis, U.S. sales represented roughly 48% of total sales and increased 12.5% year over year. International sales increased 3.5% year over year. Plasma disposables revenues increased 19% year over year to $59 million. Growth can be attributed to higher global demand for plasma collections, higher pricing and implementation of several long-term contracts with customers in the reported quarter. Platelet disposables revenues increased 3% year over year to $37 million due to the company’s strong distribution network in different key markets....

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) is set to acquire HandyLab Inc., an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company that develops and manufactures automation platforms and molecular diagnostic assays. The acquisition is expected to close by the year end. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Becton had already entered into a development and distribution agreement with HandyLab in May 2009. The acquisition thus enables Becton to support its molecular diagnostics strategy by accessing the HandyLab instrumentation technology, which is considered to be an industry leading molecular diagnostic automation platform. Becton plans to utilize its BD GeneOhm molecular assays onto the HandyLab platform and market it as the new BD Max system. The acquisition will boost demand for Becton’s molecular diagnostic products that will eventually drive the company’s top-line. Becton, Dickinson and Company develops, manufactures and markets medical devices, supplies, laboratory equipment and diagnostic products globally. The ...

Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) yesterday reported financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 after the market close. Earnings per share were 19 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5 cents and the year-ago earnings by 3 cents. Sales Net sales in the quarter were $2.0 billion, increasing approximately 2% year over year. Excluding an unfavorable foreign currency translation (FX), net sales increased roughly 3% year over year. On a geographic basis, U.S. sales contributed roughly 58% of total revenues and increased 4% year over year. International sales increased 2% year over year. Growth in net sales can be attributed to higher demand for the company’s Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM), Endosurgery and Neuromodulation products, with revenues increasing 6%, 8%, and 21%, respectively, in these segments. This was partly offset by lower sales of Cardiovascular, Neurovascular and Electrophysiology products. In the CRM space, ...

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Wednesday October 14, 2009

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ABT, PWRM, CSRH, UPS, CVAT, DELL, AQNM, JPM

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ABT, Abbott Laboratories

ABT manufactures and sells health care products worldwide.

ABT posted in third-quarter net income of $1.48 billion, or 95 cents a share, compared with $1.09 billion, or 69 cents a share, for the same quarter in 2008.

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PWRM, Power 3 Medical Products Inc, PWRM.OB

Power3 Medical Products, Inc. is a leading bio-medical company engaged in the commercialization of neurodegenerative disease and cancer biomarkers, pathways, and mechanisms of diseases through the development of diagnostic tests and drug targets. Power3’s patent-pending technologies are being used to develop screening and

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Abbott Laboratories (ABT) reported third quarter earnings of 92 cents per share, 2 cents above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 90 cents. Results were above the company’s guidance of 88 – 90 cents. Earnings increased 16.5% from the year-ago period. Total revenues grew 3.5% to $7,761 million. Revenues were negatively impacted by 4.9% due to foreign exchange (Fx) headwinds. Sales in the Pharmaceutical division totaled $4,055 million, down 1.6% and negatively impacted by about 5.5% due to Fx. Strong Humira and lipid franchise sales were offset by weak performance of Depakote, which is facing intense generic competition. The lipid franchise posted sales of $545 million. The recent launch of TriLipix, which will be co-promoted with AstraZeneca (AZN), should help drive lipid franchise sales. Meanwhile, we were pleased to see that Humira continued to perform well in both U.S. and international markets -- we ...

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) recently announced that the company will purchase the pharmaceutical arm of Belgium’s Solvay Group for $6.5 billion. This deal expands both the company’s product range and the company’s presence in fast-growing emerging countries, helping defer the effect of patent expiries and compensate for sluggish growth in its traditional markets, such as the United States.

We also have the recent $442 million paid by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) for 18% of Crucell ADR (NASDAQ: CRXL). This will give Johnson & Johnson the development rights on a flu vaccine designed to protect against all future strains of the virus. This deal confirms the company’s move into vaccines, alongside drugs and consumer products.

These deals are further confirmation of the consolidation trend that is occurring right now in the global pharmaceutical industry.

One major factor driving the consolidation trend is the slowdown in sales of pharmaceuticals, particularly in the United

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