S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, February 2, 2012. Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company which discovers, develops and commercializes therapies for viral diseases, infectious diseases and cancer.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of $1 per share, a rise of 11.1% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.02. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at $1 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 6.6% versus last year to $3.74.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company topped expectations by one cent, coming in at profit of 97 cents per share versus a mean estimate of net income of 96 cents per share. This followed two straight quarters of missing estimates.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 9% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $2.18 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 19 analysts rating it as a buy, none rating it as a sell and three rating it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit rose 5.1% to $741.1 million (95 cents a share) from $704.9 million (83 cents a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 9.5% to $2.12 billion from $1.94 billion.

Key Stats:

While the company has been profitable for the last eight quarters, income has fallen year over year by an average of 8.9% over the past four quarters. The quarter hit the hardest was the first quarter, that saw a 23.8% drop.

The company’s revenue has risen for two straight quarters. In the second quarter, the figure rose 10.9%.

Competitors to Watch: GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY), Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDIX), Trimeris, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRMS), BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX), and Hemispherx BioPharma, Inc (AMEX:HEB).

Stock Price Performance: During November 29, 2011 to January 27, 2012, the stock price had risen $9.45 (24.1%) from $39.27 to $48.72. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between December 22, 2011 and January 6, 2012 when shares rose for 10-straight days, rising 10.5% (+$4.08) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between April 4, 2011 and April 12, 2011 when shares fell for seven-straight days, falling 3.9% (-$1.67) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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