Monday's Health Winners & Losers

Health stocks were a bit drab on Monday in light of disappointing quarterly results.

Among them, biopharmaceutical company Amylin(AMLN Quote) reported a quarterly loss of $68.8 million, or 51 cents a share, vs. a loss of $49.4 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $197.2 million from $171.9 million, but still missed targets due to lower-than-expected sales of the diabetes drug Byetta.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected a loss of 48 cents a share on revenue of $233 million. The company also lowered its 2008 revenue guidance to a range of $900 million to $950 million, from $900 million to $1 billion. Shares were off by $3.43, or 10.9%, at $27.98.

Meanwhile, Amylin's partner for Byetta, big pharma company Eli Lilly(LLY Quote), saw its shares fall $2.40, or 4.6%, to $49.67 after its own quarterly earnings. The company reported a profit of $1.06 billion, or 97 cents a share, vs. $508 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, Lilly earned 92 cents a share. Sales rose to $4.8 billion from $4.22 billion in the 2007 quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for 96 cents a share on revenue of $4.82 billion.

Lilly peer Merck (MRK Quote) was more stable after its earnings. The stock edged down just 6 cents, or 0.15%, to $39.70. The company said sales for the quarter rose 1% from a year earlier to $5.82 billion, but that fell short of the consensus estimate of $6.11 billion. Merck earned $3.30 billion, or $1.52 a share, up from last year's $1.70 billion and 78 cents a share.

Excluding a $1.4 billion net after-tax gain from a distribution received from the AstraZeneca(AZN Quote) limited partnership and restructuring charges, Merck would have earned 89 cents in the quarter, 3 cents ahead of expectations. Looking ahead, Merck still expects to earn $3.28 to $3.38 a share, before items, this year. Wall Street is calling for $3.28.

Merck and Lilly are both components of the Amex Pharmaceutical index, which was down 1.99, or 0.66%, at 299.08. The Nasdaq and Amex biotechnology indices were losing 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively.

One of the winners was Quest Diagnostics(DGX Quote), who said it earned $139.6 million, or 72 cents a share, in the most recent quarter, up from $105.9 million, or 54 cents a share, last year. Revenue rose to $1.78 billion from $1.58 billion. Analysts expected 70 cents a share on revenue of $1.78 billion.

Quest also reaffirmed its full-year profit forecast of between $3 and $3.20 a share on revenue of roughly $7.28 billion. Shares were up $3.31, or 7.3%, to $48.93.

But hospital operator MedCath(MDTH Quote) fell $3.67, or 15.9%, to $19.35 after it warned that it will earn less than Wall Street is expecting in the second quarter.

The company, set to report results on May 7, said it expects a quarterly profit of 25 cents to 28 cents a share on revenue between $156.7 million and $157.3 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were projecting 39 cents a share on revenue of $174.9 million.

For the year, MedCath now expects between $620 million and $630 million in revenue, whereas the consensus estimate was $688.1 million.

After the close, Vertex Pharmaceuticals(VRTX Quote) will report its results. Wall Street is looking for a loss of 65 cents a share and revenue of $57.4 million. Investors were enthusiastic before the report, and the stock ran up 88 cents, or 3.4%, to $26.64.

On Tuesday, earnings are due from device maker Boston Scientific(BSX Quote) and health care-services company UnitedHealth Group(UNH Quote).

Analysts are looking for a profit of 11 cents a share and revenue of about $2.02 billion from Boston Scientific and earnings of 79 cents a share and revenue of $19.89 billion from UnitedHealth.