Earnings Preview: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

On Monday after the closing bell, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

is set to release its quarterly earnings results. The stock has been a strong performer in 2012, rising nearly 50 percent. The company is a large biotechnology and pharmaceutical concern which sports a market cap of almost $11 billion. Heading into the report, Wall Street analysts have consensus earnings per share estimates of $0.20. The low estimate is $0.08 with a high estimate of $0.56. The wide range of earnings estimates for the company suggests that the stock could display significant volatility in the wake of the report. In the year ago period, Vertex reported EPS of $1.02, so the current consensus estimate implies a decline in earnings of more than 80 percent. Analysts have consensus revenue estimates of $377.14 million heading into the report. The low estimate is $333.99 million with a high estimate of $420.00 million. This implies a year over year decline in sales of 42.80 percent versus the $659.20 million that the company reported in last year's corresponding quarter. Over the last three months, earnings estimates for Vertex have plunged from $0.63 to the current estimate of $0.20. During this time, the stock has stayed essentially flat, although shares have been in a downtrend since early October.