Nowadays, Amgen is a gray eminence among biotechs. With more than $18 billion in sales last year, it’s the kingpin in an industry that’s turned into one of America’s biggest innovation machines, and one of the highest-returning stock groups of the last few years. It’s hard to believe now, but back in the 1980s biotech was still a largely unproven business model. And Amgen (AMGN), founded in 1980 and public in 1982, was one of the
Amazon late Thursday reported improving sales growth but earnings just met analyst forecasts amid hefty shipping costs. The Seattle-based e-commerce king said first-quarter earnings rose 28% vs. a year earlier to 23 cents a share, meeting the consensus of 44 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. That excludes one-time costs but includes stock-based compensation. Sales rose 23% to $19.74 billion, modestly beating views of $19.43
Google has made its mark by trusting its founders’ instincts to bet big on long-shot products. That trust has propelled the company to the top in several fields — and propelled its stock. Google’s (GOOGL) Internet search engine, like many Google products since, entered a crowded field but quickly rose to the top. It went up against popular search sites such as Yahoo (YHOO), AltaVista, Ask Jeeves and Lycos. But from the start,