Medicis Pharmaceutical Soars

Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation (NYSE: MRX) shares are soaring in today’s trading after the stock was upgraded by analysts at JP Morgan and Piper Jaffray from Neutral to Overweight. Medicis Pharmaceutical stock is currently trading at $31.96. The stock is up 23.78% from its previous close. Medicis Pharmaceutical shares touched the high of $32.44 and lowest price in today’s session is $30.81. The company stock has traded in the range of $21.02 and $32.44 during the past 52 weeks. The company’s market cap is $1.94 billion.Last week the company reported a decline in profit for the fourth quarter due to higher operating expenses that more than offset a rise in revenue.The company’s fourth-quarter net income decreased to $23.87 million or $0.37 per share from $38.29 million or $0.60 per share in the previous year. The results for the quarter included research and development expenses related to collaborators of $0.21 per share, impairment of long-lived assets of $0.15 per share and income tax effects of $0.13 per share. The adjusted net income for the quarter declined to $38.89 million or $0.60 per share from $43.76 million or $0.68 per share. The revenues for the quarter increased 1.7% to $182.12 million from $179.04 million last year. The product revenues rose to $180.08 million from $176.16 million a year ago. The contract revenues declined to $2.04 million from $2.88 million in the prior-year quarter. The total operating expenses increased to $125.75 million from $94.81 million last year.For the full year the company reported revenues of approximately $700.0 million as compared $571.9 million for 2009, which represents an increase of approximately $128.1 million, or approximately 22.4%. The non-GAAP net income for 2010 was approximately $149.5 million as compared to non-GAAP net income of approximately $106.5 million for 2009, an increase of approximately $43.0 million, or approximately 40.3%. The non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $2.28 as compared to non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.68 for 2009, an increase of $0.60 per diluted share, or approximately 36.2%. The GAAP diluted EPS for 2010 was $1.89 as compared to GAAP diluted EPS of $1.21 for 2009, an increase of $0.68 per diluted share, or approximately 56.7%. The GAAP net income for 2010 was approximately $123.3 million as compared to GAAP net income of approximately $76.0 million for 2009, an increase of approximately $47.3 million, or approximately 62.4%.