For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - March 27, 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: Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH), Infosys Technologies, Ltd. (INFY), Wipro Ltd. (WIT), Amgen, Inc. (AMGN) and AK Steel (AKS).

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Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

Cognizant Sails in Choppy Waters

Recent outlook for companies in the IT Services sector has not been positive, and the sentiment has been supported by datapoints through CY2009. However, companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH), Infosys Technologies, Ltd. (

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Amgen, Inc. (AMGN), a global biotechnology company, is focused on the development and commercialization of human therapeutics. The company's key products are Epogen/Aranesp (anemia), Neupogen/Neulasta (neutropenia), and Enbrel (inflammatory disease). Results over the past few quarters demonstrate the challenging, but stabilizing ESA market.Nevertheless, we still feel as though the pipeline is significantly undervalued, and we continue to recommend the name as a long-term Hold within the biotechnology sector. Recent positive news on phase III denosumab is a big reason we continue to be positive on Amgen. Our price target is $56.Based on our 2009 through 2013 model, the 5-year earnings CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 7% is generally in-line with that of most large-cap pharmaceutical companies. Yet it is well below some of the larger biotechnology peers such as Genentech (DNA), Biogen (BIIB), Celgene  (CELG), Genzyme (GENZ) and Gilead ...

Amgen, Inc. (AMGN), a global biotechnology company, is focused on the development and commercialization of human therapeutics. The company's key products are Epogen/Aranesp (anemia), Neupogen/Neulasta (neutropenia), and Enbrel (inflammatory disease).Results over the past few quarters demonstrate the challenging, but stabilizing ESA [erythropoiesis stimulating agents] market. Nevertheless, we still feel as though the pipeline is significantly undervalued, and we continue to recommend the name as a long-term hold within the biotechnology sector.Recent positive news on phase III denosumab is a big reason we continue to be positive on Amgen. Our price target is $62.Read the full analyst report on AMGN. "AMGN" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Amgen, Inc.’s (AMGN) results over the past few quarters demonstrate the challenging, but stabilizing ESA market. Nevertheless, we still feel as though the pipeline is significantly undervalued, and we continue to recommend the name as a long-term Hold within the biotechnology sector.

Recent positive news on phase III denosumab is a big reason we continue to be positive on Amgen. The ESA trends are stabilizing, but it will still take a few more quarters to see exactly how the ODAC meeting and finalized label will affect sales. In the meantime, investors should focus their time on just how big denosumab and motesanib can be, because they are the next wave of potential growth.

Amgen is still an enormously profitable company generating significant cash flow over $1.5 billion in the second quarter alone. Our DCF analysis shows fair value in the mid $60s.

The stock had a huge run-up after the

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Checking on the biotechnology sector, we spoke with Zacks senior analyst Grant Zeng, CFA about recent developments among these companies. We discussed M&A [mergers and acquisitions] activity as well as top Buy recommendations.

How has earnings season gone this quarter? Any major surprises?

As you know, most of the companies covered by me are small-cap biotech companies which usually report their quarterly earnings quite late. I just finished updating all my companies last week and I have both positive and negative surprises.

On the positive side, Celgene’s (CELG) Revlimid beat our estimate by $15.8 million; Vidaza sales beat our estimate by $7.2 million. Total product sales beat our estimate by $16.5 million with quarterly sales of $542 million. Celgene’s adjusted EPS also beat our estimate by 6 cents. We have a Hold rating on Celgene due to valuation concerns.

For BioMarin (BMRN), sales for all three

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iShare NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) A recent run-up in biotechnology shares has led to new highs for the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). 52 ...