Generic Drug Makers Take Part In Healthcare Rally

Earnings news sent generic drug stocks higher on Thursday as the broader healthcare industry rallied across the board.

Generic drug makers have underperformed the market lately, but today’s earnings news is giving the sector a boost. Companies cited improved consumer healthcare sales for having an impact on jumps in first-quarter profit.

As a whole, the Generic Drug Stocks Index is up by 1.2%. It currently lags the S&P 500 by -5.6% over the last month.

Perrigo (PRGO) shares are up by 6% today after reporting a 15% profit increase in the fiscal third quarter. The company earned $45.9 million or 49 cents a share, up from $40 million or 42 cents a share in the same period last year. Overall, sales were up 5% with consumer healthcare sales jumping 12%.

Par Pharmaceutical (PRX) is up 5% after reporting its first-quarter earnings yesterday. The company earned $16.1 million or 48 cents in the first three months of 2009. Analysts had expected EPS of 27 cents.

Oceanside, California-based SeraCare Life Sciences (SRLS) is the sector’s biggest winner today, advancing by 11%. Not far behind are Helicos BioSciences (HLCS) and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (RDY). Both are up more than 2.5%.

Industry giant, Novartis (NVS) is an industry laggard today, trading down fractionally.

As of this writing, the Generic Drug Stocks Index is one of the top-10 performing tickerspy healthcare Indexes today. Two thirds of the broad industry’s 31 Indexes are in positive territory on the day.

Investors can follow the Generic Drug Stocks Index and view related performance charts and metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: HLCS, NVS, PRGO, PRX, RDY, SRLS