BY Rick Pendergraft:

Contributor, Stock Traders Daily

Real Time Trading Reports:  Included are detailed trading reports designed to help investors realize opportunities in these companies as earnings are released.  The reports are linked to the stock symbols in the article below. Performance - Click Here

(La Jolla, CA)  If you invest in ETFs, you should pay particular attention to how weighted the ETF is that you are investing in or looking to invest in.  The Biotech HOLDRs Trust (NYSE: BBH) is a heavily weighted ETF with four stocks representing 88 percent of the holdings.  With the heavy weighting also comes a risk of companies issuing earnings reports together, and that is exactly what we are going to see over the next few days with the BBH.  The BBH has moved higher since March, but over the last two and half months, it has been grinding sideways.

The first of the big four to report was Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB), the report was issued before the bell on Tuesday and earnings per share beat expectations $1.12 vs. $1.04.  Net income increased 34 percent over the third quarter of 2008 and revenue as a whole was up 2.5 percent.  Despite beating expectations and showing positive revenue growth, the stock was trading down over 1.7 percent in early trading. 

BIIB represents just over 13 percent of the BBH, making it the third largest holding.  Check out our free trading report on BIIB to see what you should expect for the next few quarters.

Reporting after the bell on Tuesday is the second largest holding of the BBH- Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD).  GILD accounts for 29 percent of the holdings in the Biotech HOLDRs.  Analysts expect the company to earn $0.67 per share, which is 13 percent higher than the third quarter of last year.  Gilead has matched, exceeded and missed in the last three quarters, and just like BIIB, the stock has been moving sideways for 2009.  One area where GILD is much different is in the analyst ratings where there are 26 “buy” ratings and five “hold” ratings on GILD, with zero “sell” ratings.  When you see such optimistic views from the analysts, there is plenty of room for disappointment when the earnings are released.  For a more in depth view on GILD, get our free report.

Wednesday morning it will be Genzyme’s (Nasdaq: GENZ) turn in the earnings confessional.  GENZ has missed analyst estimates each of the last two quarters, with a huge miss two quarters ago.  This quarter the company is expected to earn $0.44 per share, after earning $0.82 per share last quarter.  In spite of the much lower expectations and missing estimates each of the last two quarters, there are still 16 “buy” ratings on the company, eight “hold’ ratings and there is one analyst with a “sell” rating on GENZ.  The stock is one of the worst performing stocks in the biotech sector so far this year.  While a number of stocks have moved sideways, GENZ has declined over 18 percent year to date.  When you see optimistic views on a stock that has performed poorly both in price action and fundamentally, it usually means more downside is likely.  To find out what to expect in the months ahead, get our free report on GENZ.

The largest biotech in the U.S. based on market cap is Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) and the company is set to release earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday.  AMGN is the largest holding in the BBH and it accounts for over 38 percent of the holdings.  The consensus estimate is for the company to earn $1.27 per share after earning $1.16 in the second quarter.  AMGN did beat estimates last quarter after missing in the two previous quarters and the stock gapped sharply higher after the report, only to move sideways for the last three months.  There are 26 analysts covering Amgen and 18 of the 26 have the stock rated as a “buy” while the other eight have it rated as a “hold”.  For more on how to play it, check out our free report on AMGN.

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YTD 2009, Kee's Position Trades are up +56% on 4 trades.