Micron Technology, Inc. (MU), Celgene Corporation (CELG) & The Best-Performing NASDAQ-100 Stocks in Q1

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), as well, isn’t a company I’d expect much from in the upcoming quarter. Memory-chip makers are the type of company you buy when no one wants them and you sell when the Wall Street upgrades start rolling in. With gross margin expanding and costs falling, you’re getting your first clues that the top for memory-chip makers could be right around the corner.

In actuality, it’s Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) — which turned in the fourth-best performance within the Nasdaq-100, gaining 33.3% – that looks most primed to continue its moves higher.

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) has a number of catalysts, as I mentioned previously, including additional indications for Abraxane, the approval for Pomalyst, and a potential new drug application, or NDA, filing for Apremilast to treat psoriasis. The downside is that Apremilast, which many had figured would be its next blockbuster drug, showed a sizable drop-off in efficacy (33.1% vs. 41%) in comparison with its mid-stage trials. That may stymie some of its very near-term growth prospects.

Gilead has passed all four late-stage trials for Sofosbuvir, its revolutionary oral hepatitis-C treatment, with flying colors. It’s highly anticipated that Gilead will file an NDA for Sofosbuvir in the second quarter, which should excite investors, considering that it has the potential to reach close to $4 billion in peak sales, according to Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) analyst Tony Butler. If you’re going to closely monitor any Nasdaq-100 companies next quarter, make sure it’s Gilead Sciences!

The article The 3 Best-Performing Nasdaq-100 Stocks in the First Quarter originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Sean Williams owns shares of Dell but has no material interest in any other companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool recommends Gilead Sciences.

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