Health Winners & Losers: St. Jude

Health stocks maintained a green stance midweek, as the first second-quarter earnings report rolled out from the medical device subsector Wednesday.

The Nasdaq and Amex biotechnology indices were up 0.9% and 1.1% while the Amex pharmaceutical index tacked on 0.4%.

In earnings, device-maker St. Jude (STJ Quote) posted profit of 58 cents a share, on revenue of $1.14 billion. Wall Street, on average, had expected 55 cents a share on $1.06 billion in revenue.

The company upped its full-year outlook for the second time this year to between $2.28 and $2.33 a share from a previous range of $2.15 to $2.20 a share. Shares rose $3.16, or 7%, to $47.12.

Meanwhile, Abbott Laboratories (ABT Quote) reported adjusted earnings growth of 21.7% to 84 cents a share on revenue that increased 14.8% to $7.3 billion in the second quarter. Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 79 cents a share on revenue of $7.23 billion. Shares traded down 88 cents, or 1.5%, at $56.97.

On Thursday look for earnings from Gilead (GILD Quote) and Novartis (NVS Quote). The biotech is expected to report 48 cents a share on revenue of $1.24 billion, while analysts, on average, have pegged the pharma for earnings of 93 cents a share on revenue of $10.2 billion.

Away from earnings, ImClone (IMCL Quote) said Wednesday that Erbitux received marketing authorization in Japan for patients with advanced metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Its shares rose $3.07, or 7.5%, to $44.16.

Also gaining ground, Cytori Therapeutics (CYTX Quote) shares traded up 90 cents, or 15.1%, to $6.86. The company said Wednesday that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office granted allowance of its patent application covering methods of creating a cell-enhanced graft, processing adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells.