Gilead Sciences Earnings Preview: Hepatitis C Guidance Is Key

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD), expected to post results after the bell Tuesday, remains a darling on Wall Street after fears of a price war for its Sovaldi hepatitis C treatment receded last month.

Investors will be looking for the company's estimate of sales related to hepatitis C in 2015, according to Evercore ISI's Mark Schoenebaum.

The Street consensus calls for Gilead's worldwide sales related to the disease of $15.1 billion according to Schoenebaum, who said the company's tendency in the past has been to "guide very conservatively."

The drugmaker's shares are off nearly 5 percent since November, with much of the loss coming after AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) agreed to become the exclusive provider of a competing hepatitis C treatment to pharmacy benefits giant PBM Express Scripts.

AbbVie launched its Viekira-Pak hepatitis treatment in December.

But Gilead shares partly recovered in January, when Gilead won a similar contract to provide hepatitis C drugs through CVS Health Corp (NYSE: CVS) and Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET).

Treatment with Gilead's Sovaldi costs a reported $84,000 for a single, 12-week course.

Wall Street expects earnings of $2.22 a share, on revenue of $6.72 billion. A year earlier, Gilead posted earnings of $0.46 a share on revenue of $3.12 billion.

Gilead changed hands recently at $105.45, down 0.72 percent.

Of 28 analysts following Gilead, 24 rate the shares at Buy or Overweight, according to FactSet.