GILD Stock Pops on COVID-19 Treatment Buzz

Gilead said it plans on producing 1 million treatment courses of its experimental coronavirus drug by the end of 2020

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) is up 1% to trade at $79 this morning after the drugmaker said it plans on ramping up production on its experimental coronavirus treatment remdesivir, to 1 million treatment courses by the end of the year. Currently 1.5 million doses of the drug, or 140,000 treatment courses are available.

GILD has been outperforming the broad market for months now. U.S. President Donald Trump's comments last month touting Gilead's remdesivir treatment has undoubtedly helped put wind at the equity's back. Meanwhile, the stock's 60-day moving average has provided technical support on the charts. And while the $80 region, which is home to GILD's two-year closing high, has acted as a ceiling of late, GILD boasts a 20.4% year-to-date gain coming into today.

Analysts remain split on the biotech name, with 11 calling it a "buy" or better, and 10 saying "hold" or worse. The consensus 12-month price target of $74.79 sits slightly below current levels.

Analysts, on the other hand, have rarely been more bullish. This is per GILD's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 7.01 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which sits higher than 90% of all other readings from the past year.