Biotech Earnings Preview: A Place to Hide?

Third quarter consensus are $694 million in U.S. sales of Avastin, $648 million to $651 million for Rituxan, $344 million for Herceptin and $214 million for Lucentis. Although, analysts caution that IMS data suggests third-quarter sales for the company's lead products may be below consensus.

Rituxan sales were stronger than expected in the second quarter. Thus, a flatter-looking third quarter is possible, because the company has said the drug's sales grow in a step-like fashion.

Notably, Deutsche Bank analyst Mark Schoenebaum pointed out on a pre-earnings call earlier in the week that Genentech will have two one-time items -- an employee retention plan and the GlyCart acquisition -- which he estimates could affect EPS by roughly 10 cents a share.

Analysts are looking for $3.45 a share on revenue of $13.14 billion for the year, according to Thomson Reuters.

Data are due out any day on Genentech's RIBBON1 study , which if successful will be submitted with other data to convert the company's accelerated FDA approval of Avastin for metastatic breast cancer to full approval.

Gilead, Oct. 16

In the second quarter, Gilead's pro-forma earnings missed analysts' consensus by 2 cents a share.

This time, analysts expect Gilead to meet and possibly beat expectations, driven by stronger than expected sales in its HIV franchise. Consensus is for profit of 49 cents a share on revenue of roughly $1.32 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Wall Street expects $644 million from the HIV franchise in the U.S., including $244 million in U.S. sales from Truvada and $335 million from Atripla. Worldwide sales consensus targets are for $523 million from Truvada, $402 million from Atripla, and $150 million for Viread.