24/7 Wall St. » OMRI

Omrix Gets Acquired By J&J (OMRI, JNJ)

247wallst — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:45:04 +0000

It looks as though not quite all the mergers are dead on the medical tech and biotechnology front. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced that it is acquiring Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMRI). The $438 million cash tender offer will pay $25.00 per share to Omrix holders.

Omrix is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company that develops andmarkets biosurgical and immunotherapy products. It is expected tooperate as a stand-alone entity reporting through J&J’s ETHICON,Inc. unit, which is a provider of suture, mesh, hemostats and otherproducts for a wide range of surgical procedures.

The boards of directors of Johnson & Johnson and Omrix haveapproved the transaction. In addition, Robert Taub, Omrix’s Founder andChief Executive Officer, and entities controlled by Robert Taub, haveagreed to tender approximately 16% of Omrix’s outstanding shares in thetender offer. J&J sees an after tax charge of roughly $120 millionand expects this deal to close by the end of 2008.

Omrix closed at $21.16 on Friday, and its 52-week trading range is $8.99 to $38.18.

Jon C. Ogg
November 24, 2008

Posted in Biotech, Medical, Mergers and Buy Outs Tagged: JNJ, OMRI

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AER, AGU, CF, GVA, MFLX, OMRI, PM, PFG, TRA)

247wallst — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:40:11 +0000

These are some the top pre-market upgrades from analysts we have seen with more than two hours until the market opens this Tuesday morning:

AerCap (AER) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Agrium (AGU) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
CF Industries (CF) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Granite Construction (GVA) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Multi-Fineline Electronix (MFLX) Raised to Buy at Needham.
Omrix Biopharma (OMRI) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Philip Morris International (PM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Principal Financial (PFG) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Terra Industries (TRA) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
November 3, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AER, AGU, CF, GVA, MFLX, OMRI, PFG, PM, TRA

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (BMY, MAR, MS, NRG, OMRI, SNCR, TRMB, TSN, MTN, XNPT)

247wallst — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:53:20 +0000

These are ten of the analyst calls we are focusing on this Wednesday morning in pre-market trading:

Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) cut to Neutral at Cowen.
Marriott (NYSE: MAR) cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Omrix (NASDAQ: OMRI) Cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
Synchronoss Tech (NASDAQ: SNCR) started as Buy at Brean Murray.
Trimble Navigation (NASDAQ: TRMB) Cut to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) started as Buy at Banc of America.
XenoPort (NASDAQ: XNPT) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs

Jon C. Ogg
June 4, 2008

Biotech Busine$$ Daily (CRXX, CORT, OMRI, SIRT)

247wallst — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:40:51 +0000

CombinatoRx, Incorporated (NASDAQ: CRXX) up 8% to $3.45 on no recent developments. The 52-week range is $3.11 to $7.37. Yesterday, the company hit a 52-week low so perhaps it had nowhere to go but up.

Corcept Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CORT) up 11% today. Despite several statistically insignificant Phase III clinical trials of lead drug, a psychotic depression treatment, Corlox, the company initiated further trials in December. Friday the company entered into an agreement with Kingsbridge Capital Limited to purchase up to $60 million in new shares to finance their trials. Shares are trading at $3.60 off a 52-week range of $1.10 to $6.85.

Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OMRI) is still rising from an analyst assertion Monday that the biosurgery franchise unit with Johnson and Johnson leads its industry. Since Monday, shares have spiked from $13.32 to $16.04, a 20% increase. Today, shares are up 8%. The 52-week range is $11.81 to $39.07.

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRT) granted orphan-status to MELAS syndrome drug treatment, resveratrol. The designation gives Sirtris 7 years of marketing exclusivity upon FDA approval. Shares down $0.73 to $13.12 on heavy trading volume. The 52-week range of $9.50 to $21.99.

Rachel Lopez
April 2, 2008

The 52-Week Low Club (MS)(LEH)(WB)(FNM))(MER)(C)(JPM)

247wallst — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:03:37 +0000

Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) Fear of Chapter 11. Falls to $1.26 from 52-wek high of $28.40.

CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) Lehman Brothers cuts price target. Drops to $15 from 52-week high of $61.47.

iStar Financial (NYSE: SFI) Price target cut by Citigroup. Falls to $12.71 from 52-week high of $49.84.

JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) Worries about more write-offs. Sells down to $37.15 from 52-week high of $53.25.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) Concerns about need to raise more capital. Down to $21.11 from 52-week high of $55.55.

Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) Another candidate for big write-downs. Down to $45.73 from 52-week high of $95.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) Mortgage business slightly out of favor. Falls to $21.21 from 52-week high of $70.57.

Wachovia (NYSE: WB) Money center banks all dropping. Sells down to $27.36 from 52-week high of $57.45.

Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) Joins investment banking low club. Drops to $45.20 from 52-week high of $82.05.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Ditto. Down to $39.46 from 52-week high of $90.95.

Omrix Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OMRI) Misses on earnings. Falls to $13.88 from 52-week high of $40.90.

PETsMART (NASDAQ: PETM) Pets stop shopping. Earnings off. Drops to $19.64 from 52-week high of $35.48.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Biotech News Day (February 4, 2008) (AMAG, AOB, AMGN, CELG, MNTA, OMRI, SVA, STEM)

247wallst — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:41:55 +0000

Below are some of the top issues affecting biotech shares today:

AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG), a biopharmaceutical company developing iron compounds to treat anemia, saw shares rise 4% to $56.00 after brokerage firm Robert W. Baird initiated coverage with an OUTPERFORM rating.
American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. (NYSE:AOB) shares are down almost 7% at mid-day with relative high volume trading to $9.50 on no real news.
Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) stock shows no reaction to deal with Japanese drug giant Takeda Pharmaceutical. Takeda is to purchase Amgen’s Japanese unit for up to $902 million plus royalties on sales in exchange for access to 13 of Amgen’s new drugs. Amgen hopes this will curb costs and provide cash as their high-selling anemia drug sales slow due to safety issues.
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) shares are down $1.76 to $57.94 at mid-day. Although earnings reported last Thursday met Wall Street expectations, the outlook for the success of its multiple myeloma cancer treatment, Revlimid, is mixed. Today, the company released Phase II data and news for its psoriasis drug CC-10004. The recent study showed positive results and the company announced plans to increase dosages.
Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:MNTA) shares continued to take a beating after they announced their earnings release date this morning. They had a rough quarter after the FDA rejected their genetic blood-thinner in November, losing about 60% of its share price. Shares are down $0.37 to $7.54 at mid-day.
Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMRI) shares are slightly recovering today after a sharp plummet over the last 2 weeks following the FDA approval for competitor ZymoGenetics’ (ZGEN) Recothrom, that will compete with Omrix’s Evithrom in the thrombin drug market. Omrix announced last Friday that their CFO is resigning. Shares are up 4% to $21.27 on relatively heavy trading volume at mid-day. A month ago, shares were trading at over $30.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (AMEX:SVA), the Chinese vaccine provider, has shares up over 5% to $4.11 at mid-day after Sinovec announced the private placement of 2,500,000 common shares for $9.75 million to Sansar Capital Management.
StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ:STEM) stock continued to rise after news last Thursday that it plans to collaborate with Casey Eye Institute to study their leading product candidate, HuCNS-SC, a probable treatment for retinal degeneration which is a leading cause of blindness. Shares are up over 15% at mid-day to $1.77.

Rachel Lopez
February 4, 2008