Posts for Ticker ‘SEPR’

BioHealth Business Daily (BMRN, DVAX, SEPR, STEM, PCYC, OCLS)

biotech imageToday is an unusually active day for many emerging biotech stocks in the news and we are seeing significant moves in response. We have more detail on each with appropriate links through to more analysis and data at BioHealthInvestor.com or VSInvestor.com:

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRN) is seeing exponential trading volume in stock and options after a 10% rise today.

Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: DVAX) is up over 50%after the FDA removed a clinical hold on its hepatitis treatment.

The fight over the Sepracor, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEPR) acquisition has now gone to the level of a class action status.  We noted the very low P/E and multiple valuations yesterday on this one.

StemCells, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) traded slightly higher on word that it will soon begin a study with the University of California, San Francisco Children’s Hospital using purified human neural stem cells as a possible treatment for Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease.

Pharmacyclics Inc. (NASDAQ: PCYC) was trading up on news that its right offering is oversubscribed.

Oculus Innovative Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCLS) is trading higher on report that it has been assigned a Medicare HCPCS code for its recently introduced Microcyn Skin & Wound HydroGel.

JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ANF, FRED, FDO, FINL, SEPR, VMED, WTNY, ZUMZ)

It is looking pretty thin in analyst calls ahead of the 3-day weekend, but these are some of the top research upgrades, downgrades, and initiations we have seen this Friday morning:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) cut to Sell from Hold at Citi.
Fred’s Inc. (FRED) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.
Family Dollar Stores (FDO) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.

Finish Line (FINL) Started as Outperform at Wedbush Morgan.
Sepracor (SEPR) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Virgin Media (VMED) Started as Outperform by Credit Suisse.
Whitney Holding (WTNY) Raised to Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.

JON C. OGG

Top Day Trader Alerts (FNM, FRE, HOV, INWK, JAVA, ORCL, SEPR, SVA, ZUMZ)

These are this Thursday’s top day trader and active trader alert stocks.  We have links through to each with more detailed price/volume analysis over at VSinvestor.com:

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are bouncing by over 10% this morning now that equities have stopped the drop for now.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) is down about 10% … maybe all those ‘great home sales figures’ are either not so great or are not sustainable.

InnerWorkings Inc. (NASDAQ: INWK) is down sharply on an earnings warning.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) is down, but not as bad as you might think, on the EU probe of the Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) buyout…. Silly children must be in charge over there.

Sepracor, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEPR) is already at exponential trading volume on the buyout news.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (AMEX: SVA) is challenging $10.00 again… China approved it for a vaccine against swine flu for the Chinese market.

Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is up over 10% after negative same store sales were not as bad even at -12.1%… it caught 3 analyst upgrades.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week if you wish to be notified by email when the top day trader alerts hit, along with news of IPO’s, key offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

Top Day Trader Alerts (RIGL, MSFT, SPWR, ALGN, AMZN, JNPR, ERIC, SEPR)

The following are some of the top stocks to watch for active trading today based on pre-market and after-hours volume activity. There are links through to more detailed coverage and volume analysis at VSInvestor.com:

Rigel Pharmaceutical Inc. (Nasdaq: RIGL) shares are down sharply after its rheumatoid arthritis candidate missed its efficacy endpoint in a trial.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) are the most active in the premarket, after it reported  lower-than-expected revenue that fell 17.3% from the same period last year.

SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWR) shares are among the biggest premarket gainers after the company posted a 10-cent a shre earnings beat, and gave upside guidance.

Align Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: ALGN) shares also are on the rise, after an earnings beat.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) shares are down nearly 6 percent as one of the most active decliners, after it reported in-line EPS.

Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR) shares are down on strong premarket volume despite better-than-expected earnings results, as gross margins were disappointing.

LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (Nasdaq: ERIC) shares are down 7 percent after it reported earnings this morning.

Sepracor Inc. (Nasdaq: SEPR) shares are up on strong volume following its earnings and raised fiscal 2009 guidance.

-The 24/7 Wall St. Team

Top Analyst Upgrades (ALNY, DB, DSCM, ZEUS, SEPR, X, YHOO)

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street research calls early this Wednesday morning:

Alnylam (ALNY) Started as Buy at Jefferies and at Roth.
Deutsche Bank (DB) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Drugstore.com (DDSCM) Started as Buy at Janney Montgomey Scott.
Olympic Steel (ZEUS) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Sepracor (SEPR) Started as Buy at Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.
US Steel (X) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Yahoo! (YHOO) Raised to Buy at Soleil.

JON C. OGG

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADBE, RATE, BWA, MRO, RHT, SEPR, SYMC, SINA)

Monday is starting the week off with a pretty light wave of analyst calls.  The top 10 analyst upgrades and downgrades are not even a full 10 calls with more than two hours until the market opens:

Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Hold at Citigroup; Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Bankrate (RATE) Cut to Market Perform at JMP Securities.
BorgWarner Inc. (BWA) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Marathon Oil (MRO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Red Hat (RHT) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Sepracor (SEPR) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Symantec (SYMC) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Sina Corp. (SINA) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.

JON C. OGG

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ALL, AZN, ETFC, FITB, JNPR, QCOM, RF, RYAAY, SEPR, HOT, TKR, TWC, TROW, UA, VE, ZNT)

These are some of the many pre-market downgrades and negative calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Friday morning:
Allstate (ALL) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
AstraZeneca (AZN) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
E*TRADE (ETFC) Cut to Underperform at Raymond James.
Fifth Third (FITB) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Juniper Networks (JNPR) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Qualcomm (QCOM) Cut to Hold at Societe Generale.
Regions Financial (RF) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Ryanair (RYAAY) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Sepracor (SEPR) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
Starwood Hotels (HOT) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Timken (TKR) Cut to Hold at KeyBanc.
Time Warner Cable (TWC) Cut to Sell at Collins Stewart.
T. Rowe Price (TROW) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Under Armour (UA) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
Veolia Environnement (VE) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Zenith National Insurance (ZNT) Cut to Market Perform at FBR; Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Jon C. Ogg
January 30, 2009

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ALU, AUO, BEC, BA, GR, KSU, LULU, SEPR)

Burning_money_picThese are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades or negative calls on Wall Street we have seen this Monday morning:

  • Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
  • AU Optronics (NYSE: AUO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Beckman Coulter (NYSE: BEC) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
  • Boeing (NYSE: BA) Started as Sell at Societe Generale.
  • Goodrich (NYSE: GR) Started as Sell at Society Generale.
  • Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
  • Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR) Started as Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
December 15, 2008

As Institutions Sell Millennium On Buyout News, Which Biotech Stocks Will See Inflows? (ALXN, CEPH, CBST, IMCL, ONXX, SEPR, UTHR)

The $8.8 Billion cash buyout of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MLNM) has created a situation worth monitoring today.  It isn’t just that this buyout could create a cascade of other biotech deals.  The easier call is actually in just figuring out which emerging drug and biotech stocks will actually see new biotech investor inflows of cash from institutions that have to invest in these companies. More than 94% of MLNM was also listed as "held by institutions" according to data from Capital IQ.

Institutions have been selling the stock today from $24.30 to $24.50 rather than waiting for the $25.00 and this had traded more than 180 million shares late in the day (more than $4.3 Billion worth of stock).  As the institutions take this money out, that theoretically ends up in other similar criteria companies.  Of course this is only a very partial list, and we wouldn’t want to believe that those funds will only go into ‘identical criteria" emerging pharma and biotech stocks in the U.S. alone.  But here is a partial list of stocks that have somewhat similar characteristics that could be some of the beneficiaries in this scenario:

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) with a $2.5 Billion market cap is now in its second transitionary year where revenues went from partnership and interest revenues into product revenues as analysts expect more than $213 million in 2008 revenues and more than $360 million for 2009.  Currently markets Soliris for blood disorders.

Cephalon, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH) has a $4.4 Billion market cap and established revenues of $1.77 Billion last year.  Analysts expect revenues to be $1.88 Billion this year and more than $2.1 Billion next year.  It already has drugs in place or in development for central nervous system disorders, pain, oncology, and addiction.

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST) may be a tad small with a $1.1 Billion market cap and with fresh contamination problems, but its name wasn’t left off.  2007 saw $294+ million in revenues, and analysts are looking for revenues of $391 million this year and $479 million next year.  Company’s Cubicin is on market as the first antibiotic in a new class of anti-infectives called lipopeptides for strep, staph, and other infections.

Imclone Systems (NASDAQ: IMCL) would have matched with a $3.8 Billion market cap and Erbitux as a current cancer drug, although this has been between $30 and $45.00 per share since its huge drop in 2004 and activists haven’t been able to make it budge.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ONXX) has a $1.9 Billion market cap and it has also transitioned to a revenue generator with analysts expecting revenues of $80 million this year and $161 million next year.  Nexavar is its kidney cancer and tumor drug, plus other partner studies in place.

Sepracor Inc. (NASDAQ: SEPR) has a $2.4 Billion market cap and is also in the revenue generation stage, although it has been a painful stock for many investors over the last 12 to 18 months.  Revenues are already established and analysts expect revenues to be $1.35 Billion this year and $1.53 Billion next year.  LUNESTA is major product, has key partners in place. 

United Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: UTHR) has a market cap of $1.9 Billion and generated almost $211 million in 2007 revenues.  Analysts expect revenues to hit $261+ million this year and $346+ million next year.  Drugs treat cardiovascular, cancer, and infectious diseases.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about special financings, secondary offerings, IPO’s, M&A, and more previews for other special situations in various stages.

Jon C. Ogg
April 10, 2008

Jon Ogg produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter.  He can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Pre-Market Earnings Gappers (January 29, 2008)

We are right in the thick of earnings season and below is a snapshot of some of the key earnings reports with price changes if available:

  • Air Tran (NYSE: AAI) -$0.02 EPS vs -$0.02 estimate.
  • American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) $0.52 EPS vs $0.50 estimate.
  • American Express (NYSE: AXP) $0.71 EPS vs $0.71 estimate; stock fell 2% after-hours.
  • Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) $1.46 EPS vs $1.37 estimate.
  • Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) $0.90 EPS vs. $0.87 estimate, lowered guidance.
  • Chattem (NASDAQ: CHTT) $0.76 EPS vs $0.65 estimate.
  • Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) $0.11 EPS vs. $0.11 estimate; lending changes and reimbursement changes will lower earnings in second half to make 2008 at lower-end of expectations.
  • Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) posted earnings; maintained dividend; shares up 1.5% pre-market.
  • Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) $0.84 EPS vs $0.80 estimate;
  • Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) $0.90 EPS vs $0.87 estimate.
  • EMC (NYSE: EMC) $0.24 EPS vs $0.22 estimate
  • 3M (NYSE: MMM) $1.19 EPS vs $1.17 estimate; $6.2 Billion vs. $6.12B estimate; reiterated 10% EPS growth for 2008.
  • Accidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) $1.74 EPS vs $1.69 estimate; replaced 116% of its 2007 production.
  • SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) posted non-GAAP EPS of $0.69 vs. $0.64 EPS estimate, but guidance was disappointing; stock down 3%.
  • Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR) trading down 7% after restatements.
  • Smurfit Stone (NASDAQ: SSCC) traded up 6% after earnings.
  • T.Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW) $0.68 EPS vs $0.63 estimate.
  • Unisys (NYSE: UIS) $0.04 EPS vs $0.12 estimate; although shares up almost 4%.
  • VMware (NYSE: VMW) trading down 20% or more after revenue number was light.
  • Waddell & Reed (NYSE: WDR) $0.42 EPS vs. $0.42 estimate.
  • Zoran (NASDAQ: ZRAN) traded down 22% after beating earnings but lowering guidance.

Jon C. Ogg
January 29, 2008

Pre-Market Stock News (November 27, 2007)

Below is a snapshot of much of the pre-market news moving individual stocks this morning:

  • Activision (ATVI) raised guidance on Guitar Hero III sales; stock up 8% pre-market.
  • Barrier Therapeutics (BTRX) announced positive results of higher dose escalation clinical safety study with pramiconazole.
  • Casual Male (CMRG) indicated lower after missing earnings and guiding lower.
  • CIGNA (CI) is acquiring Great-West Healthcare for $1.5 Billion.
  • Citigroup (C) sold a $7.5 Billion stake to Abu Dhabi Fund.
  • GlobalSantaFe (GSF) has received a subpoena from the SEC seeking documents related to the company’s ongoing internal investigation.
  • Hydrogenics (HYGS) received a $1.7 million order for three fuel cell hybrid MiniBuses for an Expo in Spain.
  • Osiris Therapeutics (OSIR) announced positive one-year data from Chondrogen trial for knee repair in its preparation of adult stem cells formulated for direct injection into the knee.
  • Penford Corp (PENX) announced a 2 Million share common stock offering, although this was under the existing shelf offering.
  • Pharmacopeia (PCOP) and GlaxoSmithKline identified two new additional lead compounds that will trigger milestone payment of $1 million to Pharmacopeia.
  • Qiao Xing (XING) telegraphss medium and long-term business plans and will continue to take steps to ensure growth of 20% to 30% per year for the next 5-years.
  • Sepracor (SEPR) announced the completion of its SEC investigation and no enforcement action was recommended.
  • Smith & Nephew (SNN) announces precautionary knee recall.
  • Staples (SPLS) $0.42 EPS vs $0.40 est.
  • Tech Data (TECD) $0.73 EPS vs $0.60 est. (unsure if comparable) sales guidance for Q4 looks a tad light.
  • Tenet Healthcare (THC) entered into a new national insurance coverage agreement with UnitedHealthcare (UNH).

Jon C. Ogg
November 27, 2007

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Earlybird Analyst Calls (July 30, 2007)

AHM cut to Sector Perform at RBC; cut to Underperform at JMP Securities.
BEBE cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
BEE raised to Buy at UBS.
CHRT cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
CNSL raised to Hold at Citigroup.
DHR raised to overweight at JPMorgan.
DRH raised to Buy at UBS.
EDE raised to Buy at Jefferies.
ESLR raised to Neutral at B of A.
HK raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
IR raised to Buy at Citigroup; downgraded to Neutral at Baird.
KNX raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
KOF raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
MEE cut to Underperform at FBR.
MGM raised to Overweight at Lehman.
MSA raised to Outperform at Baird.
MOT raised to MKt Perform at JMP Securities.
NSC raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
OEH raised to Buy at UBS.
PFGC raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
PLCE cut to Neutral at Susquehanna.
SEPR raised to Buy at B of A.
SOV raised to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
SWX raised to Buy at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
July 30, 2007

The 52-Week Low Club

Isilon Systems (ISLN) Clustered storage systems cuts forecast. Drops to $9.47 from 52-week high of $28.50.

Sepracor (SEPR) Specialty drug maker gets competition from generic. Income drops. Shares fal to $27.56 from 52-week high of $63.24.

QLogic (QLGC) Network equipment maker hits three-year low on earnings miss. Down to $13.54 from 52-week high of $22.46.

Six Flags (SIX) Theme-park company has increase in Q2 loss. Shares fall to $3.70 from 52-week high of $6.80.

Sepracor’s (SEPR) Shares Now Cut In Half

Being in the pharmaceutical development business has always been rough, and investors in Sepracor (SEPR) learned that lesson again today. The company’s shares are down after earnings, off 17% to $31.85. The stock has a 52-week high of $63.24.

For the three months ended June 30, 2007, total revenues increased to approximately $278.1 million, which reflected a 5.2% increase from second quarter 2006 revenues of $264.4 million. Net income for the quarter was approximately $6.1 million, or $0.05 per diluted share compared to $11.0 million, or $0.10 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2006.

Both sales and earnings missed Wall St. hopes.

According to Reuters: Revenue from Lunesta, the company’s popular insomnia drug, grew just slightly, to $143.0 million from $139.1 million a year ago as generic competition weighed.

Generics will hurt a company like SEPR more than its Big Pharma rivals because it has fewer drugs on the market and less in the pipeline. If one product starts to get hit by competition, revenue can be hit hard, and for a long time.

The prospects here look none too good, but neither does the stock price

Douglas A. McIntyre

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

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.