24/7 Wall St. » COLY

Short Selling Volatile Biotechs (June 2007) (DNDN, NFLD, NSTK, ADLR, ALTH, COLY, CEGE, NUVO)

247wallst — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:36:45 +0000

Stock Tickers: DNDN, NFLD, NSTK, ADLR, ALTH, COLY, CEGE, NUVO

Many of the recent biotech implosions are always interesting to see if short sellers are getting out of the way or adding pressure. Out of the biotechs we covered with recent implosions here is what we saw from May to June. Oddly enough, only Dendreon (DNDN) out of this group showed a drop in the short interest out of this group from May to June..

Dendreon (DNDN)…can’t forget them. Recently we noted how options were weighing on the stock and how the company probably had a news vacuum coming up.
June Short Interest: 40.8 million shares, down almost 2% from May.
May Short Interest: 41.66M.

Adolor Corp. (ADLR)
June Short Interest: 6.5 million shares, up almost 10% from May.
May Short Interest: 5.9 million shares.

Allos Therapeutics (ALTH) didn’t implode, but it looked like it was going to. Short sellers didn’t have the news ahead of time so maybe the short-covering was a savior.
June Short Interest: 5.17 million shares, up 30% from May.
May Short Interest: 3.97 million shares.

Northfield Labs (NFLD)….going, going, gone…..Biotech Zombie.
June Short Interest: 8.06 million shares, up 8% from May.
May Short Interest: 7.4 million shares.

Nastech Pharma (NSTK) was Cramer’s biotech zombie he said was looking up back in March. Short sellers bet against Cramer.
June Short Interest: 5.09 million shares, up 21% from May.
May Short Interest: 4.2 million shares.

Coley Pahrmaceuticals (COLY)….short sellers didn’t know this was getting the bad news at the cut-off date.
June Short Interest: 4.7 million shares, up 5% from May.
May Short Interest: 4.46 million shares.

Cell Genesys (CEGE)
June Short Interest: 15.4 million shares, up almost under 10% from May.
May Short Interest: 14 million shares.

Nuvelo Inc. (NUVO)…short sellers didn’t know for sure that Bayer was bailing here…..
June Short Interest: 8.06 million shares, up 8% from May.
May Short Interest: 7.44 million shares.

The Biotech HOLDRs (BBH) are hard to draw an inference to because of the size differentials and volume, but its June short interest was up more than 4% from May with a reading of 1.72 million shares.

Jon C. Ogg
June 27, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Coley Pharmaceutical (COLY): Another Biopharma Collapse

247wallst — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:39:15 +0000

Coley Pharmaceuticals (COLY) is yet another small-cap biopharma one-trick pony that fell apart like a cheap clock. Pfizer (PFE) had been conducting trials of a lung cancer drug licensed from Coley, and a review committee says test have been ineffective.

Trials will be discontinued. Coley lost $35 million last year on revenue of $20 million, and the bottom line has been that way for three years.

It is a miracle of sorts that the company’s shares hit $13.90 late last year. They have not traded below $8 over the last 52-week period. But, today they fell to $2.99, which is the only part of the entire affair that makes any sense.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Biotech Implosion: Coley Pharmaceutical Group (COLY)

247wallst — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:37:29 +0000

Shares of microcap biotech Coley Pharmaceutical Group (COLY-NASDAQ) saw shares get pounded late on Wednesday afternoon. Right before 2:00 PM EST, the company announced that its partner Pfizer (PFE-NYSE) had discontinued and exited its pact with Coley in the development of lung cancer investigational compound PF-3512676 as a combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy. This also included two Phase 3 clinical trials and two Phase 2 clinical trials. Ouch. The independent data safety monitoring committee determined there was no additional clinical efficacy over that of chemotherapy alone. "No efficacy" is one of those snippets that is worse for biotechs than "abnormal events" or even "Severe side-effects."

Robert L. Bratzler, Ph.D., President & CEO of Coley: "This news is surprising based on the signs of clinical activity observed with PF-3512676 in Coley’s Phase II randomized clinical trial and we are disappointed with this setback in the program. We remain focused on advancing our portfolio of TLR Therapeutic candidates for the treatment of cancer, allergy and asthma, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and as a vaccine adjuvant, including novel small molecules and RNA- based drugs targeting TLRs7, 8 and 9."

Coley closed out the day down 59%, or $5.03, down to $3.46 on the day. The 52-week trading range had been $8.00 to $13.90. Intraday lazard cut this from Buy to Hold. The company now only has a $91 million market cap. At the end of last quarter the company ended with more than $97 million in cash, but total liabilities carried on the books were listed as $48 million. This will essentially drop the company to even less in revenues, although it does still have partnerships and collaborations on other candidates with Sanofi-Aventis (SNY-NYSE/ADR), GlaxoSmithkline (GSK-NYSE/ADR), Novartis (NVS-NYSE/ADR), and the U.S. Government.

So far, Coley’s conference call has failed to generate any real support for the stock. This hasn’t gone into the mode of a biotech zombie yet, but this is a pretty severe blow considering this was Coley’s lead candidate.

Jon C. Ogg
June 20, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in any of the companies he covers.

Massive List of 52-Week Lows (June 20, 2007)

247wallst — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:38:06 +0000

Stock Tickers: AVR, BCRX, CACH, CHCI, COLY, CTIC, FSII, HOV, HR, INFS, LEG, MTH, PEIX, RSYS, SCSS, SEPR, SNY, STAA, USBE, UTSI, VSE, YSI

Once again, many many more losers…..This list is larger than most of recent note. There is just about any given day where there are fresh 52-week lows:

Aventine Renewable (AVR)…-3.9% to $14.09; $14.60 prior low. Watch the renewable energy names as they are plentiful on 52-week lows.

BioCryst Pharma (BCRX)…-3.3% at $6.92; prior 52-week low $7.13; follow-on weakness from Peramivir Monday.

Cache (CACH)…-2.7% to $13.92; not lowest intraday but low close.

Comstock Homebuilders (CHCI)…-4.4% to $2.83; another stinking homebuilder.

Coley Pharma (COLY)….-59% to $3.46; $8.00 prior lows; intra-day implosion as Pfizer ditches its cancer drug.

Cell Therapeutics (CTIC)…-9.4% to $3.09; prior 52-week low was $3.38.

FSI International (FSII)….-13% to $3.43; $3.91 was prior low; weak guidance; hedge fund pressures CEo.

Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV)…-3% to $19.08; prior 52-week low $19.53; another stinking homebuilder.

Healthcare Realty (HR) -2.2% to $28.34; prior 52-week low was $28.57; this one goes lower and lower each week it feels like.

InFocus (INFS) -4% to $2.33; follow-on weakness after CFO quit; stock imploding….

Leggett & Platt (LEG)…-0.7% to $21.92; not tru 52-week low but low close; continued weakness after estimates cut from housing.

Meritage Homes (MTH)..-1.5% to $28.75; another stinking homebuilder.

Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)…-2.35 to $12.35; lowest close of late; and we thought ethanol was king…..

Radisys (RSYS)…-3.8% to $12.80; not true low but low close and hit intraday lows; no news today.

Select Comfort (SCSS)…-2.1% to $16.03; prior low $16.09; weak housing must mean weak bed sales; maybe hamocs are the new rage?

Sepracor (SEPR)…-2.5% to $43.67; prior 52-week low $43.84; insiders exercising stock options this week; P/E ratio drifting lower and lower; now down 33% from highs.

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY)…-1.8% to $40.84; prior low $41.09; drug woes continue; worries they’ll dilute to buy Bristol-Myers.

Staar Surgical (STAA)…-2.85% to $4.09; $4.14 prior 52-week lows; no news, but not a ‘staar’ after all.

US Bioenergy (USBE)…-2.6% to $10.67; $10.78 prior low; busted IPO looks like worse getting even worse.

UTSarcom (UTSI)…-3.8% to $5.28; $5.43 was prior 52-week low; down more than 50% in last year; the beatings will continue until leadership improves AND until they actually report and open the books.

VeraSun (VSE)…-4.7% to $13.08; $13.69 was prior 52-week low; ethanol slide continues.

u_Store-It Trust (YSI)…-2.9% to $16.97; $17.05 was prior intra-day low; no news, but they obviously aren’t storing enough.

Jon C. Ogg
June 20, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in any of the companies he covers.