Acquisitions have long been a staple of the drug industry, and a driving force in investment decisions. As the big pharmas’ blockbuster drugs have gone off patent, they’ve filled their pipelines by buying smaller firms with new drugs. For the smaller players, a buyout is usually investors’ chief hope of a healthy return on investment. But while little biotechs are still being bought at a good clip, the buyers are changing. Ernst & Young, in a
The strength of the tech sector and the road ahead will come into better focus when industry leaders report fourth-quarter earnings, starting with Intel on Thursday. The outlook for tech companies is for moderate Q4 growth in earnings and revenue, with momentum building in the first half of 2014, according to market trackers Thomson Reuters and FactSet Research. Following Intel (INTC), IBM (IBM), Verizon (VZ) and SAP (SAP) report earnings on
SAN FRANCISCO — Biotechnology continued to take the spotlight at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, as Illumina and Regeneron both offered strong preliminary Q4 results, and the former rolled out two new gene-sequencing products. Meanwhile, beleaguered robotic-surgery firm Intuitive Surgical’s stock rebounded after its Q4 update beat expectations. Illumina (ILMN) CEO Jay Flatley said Q4 revenue rose 25% over the year-earlier quarter to $387