Amgen's (NASDAQ:AMGN) EPS Should Accelerate Under XGEVA

With the approval of denosumab, under the brand XGEVA, coming at the right time for Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), Barclays (NYSE:BCS) sees their earnings per share accelerating going forward, and reiterates their "Overweight" rating on them.

"We are reiterating our rating on shares of AMGN following approval of denosumab, under the brand XGEVA, for the prevention of skeletal related events (SREs) in patients with bone metastases. Overall timing of approval was better than expected, following recent concern regarding potential delay, and labelling was inline with expectations, although SRE prevention label suggests placement frontline ahead of SRE treatment indication for bisphosphonates. With aggressive co-pay assistance and superior labelling to market leader Zometa we expect a rapid launch to support reacceleration of AMGN EPS growth," Barclays said.

Amgen closed Friday at $55, losing $0.14, or 0.25 percent. Barclays has a price target of $71 on them.