24/7 Wall St. » XOMA

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (GOOG, YNDX, LULU, AMGN, NLY, BDE, FTEK, HK, PAY, DKS, IRDM, SSI, MTN, VRML, EBTX, XOMA, ONTY, ZLTQ)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:05:54 +0000

The three major US equities indexes opened sharply lower this morning and the slide continued pretty much without interruption all day. About half an hour before closing, all three indexes are down more than -1.5% and today looks headed for the worst day for the markets so far this year. A projected -0.3% contraction in eurozone GDP coupled with a slowdown of GDP growth in China to its lowest level in eight years got equities off on the wrong foot this morning, and there was simply no news good enough to turn things around. The dollar opened stronger today, and has continue to gain strength with the dollar index currently up 0.66% at 79.821. The stronger dollar weighed on crude prices, pushing WTI down -1.9% to $104.70/barrel and Brent down -1.51% at $121.93/barrel. Gold settled down -1.9% at $1,672.10, its lowest finish in six weeks.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 204points to 12,759.15 (-1.57%), the NASDAQ fell more than 40 points (-1.36%) to 2,910.32, and the S&P 500 fell -1.54% or nearly 21 points to 1,343.36.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) started as ‘buy’ at Nomura; Yandex N.V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) started as ‘neutral’ at UBS; lululemon athletica inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) cut to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein; and Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) cut to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Black Diamond Inc. (NASDAQ: BDE) is down -2.1% at $8.74; Fuel Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: FTEK) is up 0.18% at $5.61; Halcon Resources Corp. (NASDAQ: HK) is down -4.6% at $10.27; Verifone Systems, Inc. (NYSE: PAY) is up 7.5% at $50.03; Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) is up 2.7% at $46.79 after posting a new 52-week high of $47.42 earlier today; Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) is up 10.8% at $8.20; Stage Stores Inc. (NYSE: SSI) is down -4.6% at $13.69; and Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) is up 4.7% at $43.43.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Vermillion Inc. (NASDAQ: VRML) is up more than 111% at $2.81. The medical device maker received a code-change approval from the American Medical Association that incorporates one of the company’s devices. More coverage here.

Encore Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: EBTX) is up more than 35% at $20.23 after posting a new 52-week high of $20.61 earlier this morning. The bank holding company has been acquired by privately held Cadence Bancorp for about $250 million ($20.62/share).

XOMA Corp. (NASDAQ: XOMA) is up about 30% at $1.89. The biopharmaceutical firm has announced pricing on a share offer of around 29.7 million shares and warrants.

Oncothyreon Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTY) is down nearly -41% at $4.98. The biopharma company reported a significant fourth-quarter EPS miss this morning, along with available cash that will keep the company in operation for about another 12 months.

Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc. (NASDAQ: ZLTQ) is down more than -32% at $7.50 after posting a new 52-week low of $7.46 earlier. The medical technology company posted a dismal fourth-quarter earnings report this morning.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
7:30 a.m. – Challenger Gray & Christmas job-cut report
8:15 a.m. – ADP employment report
8:30 a.m. – Non-farm business productivity and unit labor costs report
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
3:00 p.m. – Consumer credit

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: AMGN, BDE, DKS, EBTX, FTEK, GOOG, HK, IRDM, LULU, MTN, NLY, ONTY, PAY, SSI, VRML, XOMA, YNDX, ZLTQ

Morning Movers (VRML, HNR, XOMA, ONTY, ZLTQ)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:22:24 +0000

The three major US equities indexes opened sharply lower this morning as there has been no news to counteract the weak economic projections that came out yesterday. The projected -0.3% contraction in eurozone GDP coupled with a slowdown of GDP growth in China to its lowest level in eight years are weighing heavily on equities. The dollar is gathering strength, though, and the dollar index is up 0.58% this morning at 79.759. The DJIA is down about 145 points at around 12,817, the Nasdaq Composite is down about 37 points at around 2,913, and the S&P 500 is down more than 17 points at around 1,347.

There are several stocks trading more heavily than usual this morning, and also experiencing large gains or drops in share prices. These include the Vermillion Inc. (NASDAQ: VRML), Harvest Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: HNR), XOMA Corp. (NASDAQ: XOMA), Oncothyreon Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTY), and Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc. (NASDAQ: ZLTQ).

Vermillion is up about 45% at $4.13. Volume is already nearly 10x the daily average of about 117,000 shares traded. The medical device maker received a code-change approval from the American Medical Association that incorporates one of the company’s devices.

Harvest Natural Resources is up nearly 31% at $8.19. Volume is already nearly double the daily average of about 490,000 shares traded. The independent oil & gas company has reported production growth at its Venezuelan fields and that it has begun discussions for a sale of its Venezuelan assets.

XOMA is up about 31% at $1.90. Volume is already about 15x the daily average of around 350,000 shares traded. The biopharmaceutical firm has announced pricing on a share offer of around 29.7 million shares and warrants.

Oncothyreon is down nearly -35% at $5.49. Volume is already about about 6x the daily average of around 1 million shares traded. The biopharma company reported a significant fourth-quarter EPS miss this morning..

Zeltiq is down about -31% at $7.65 after posting a new 52-week low of $7.55 earlier. Volume is already about 4x the daily average of around 185,000 shares traded. The medical technology company posted a dismal fourth-quarter earnings report this morning.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: HNR, ONTY, VRML, XOMA, ZLTQ

BioHealth Daily: Death of Xoma May Be Premature (XOMA)

Administrator — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:09:11 +0000

Xoma Ltd. (NASDAQ: XOMA) is getting crushed this morning on news that its potential Type-2 diabetes drug failed to lower blood sugar levels. The news is bad, but there are a few things here which may not kill the company as bad as many investors might think if they just looked at the share price reaction this morning. The company’s Xoma 052 was administered to more than 400 patients over a six-month period and those who took the drug showed no real difference in blood sugar levels than those who were given the placebo.

It goes without saying that Xoma said the results failed to achieve the trial’s primary endpoint. Xoma did note that patients did show ‘significant declines’ in the C-reactive protein levels, which is used to measure risks for strokes, heart attacks, and other forms of cardiovascular disease. Another issue which was brought up was that the safety profile had no significant changes compared to preliminary trial data.

The company is looking to continue development for a treatment of eye swelling and it appears to be looking for cardiovascular disease treatment trials in 2012. The first may not be much, but the second can be if significantly lowers the C-protein levels. Unfortunately, diabetes is such a large growth opportunity for drug companies that the rest is being swept under the table.

Xoma’s market cap is now only about $77 million and its revenues in each of the last three years (most recent 2010 first) are as follows: $33.641 million, $98.43 million, and $67.987 million. Thomson Reuters had consensus estimates of $54.23 million in 2011 and $50.9 million in 2012 revenues. The company also claimed some $37.3 million in cash and equivalents at the end of 2010.

Xoma shares are down 30% at $3.54 and the 52-week trading range is $2.24 to $12.60. There was already a cloud over Xoma. It is hard to consider thinking about good news when you see a 30% drop in a stock. The primary news is bad, but the whole story has not turned to an outright implosion.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Biotech, Drug companies Tagged: XOMA

Top Active Trader Alert Stocks (CREE, MOTR, XOMA)

247wallst — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:54:35 +0000

Active traders and day traders have many stocks to choose from this Wednesday morning. We are tracking news and moves in shares of Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE), Motricity, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOTR), and XOMA Limited (NADAQ: XOMA).

Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) is down 8.5% premarket to $44.80, relative to a 52-week range of $45.48-$83.38. The company lowered 3Q projections substantially, to a range of $215-$220 million.

Motricity, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOTR) is up 6% premarket after gaining more than 12% during trading hours yesterday. Shares of MOTR are trading within a 52-week range of $6.55-$31.95.

XOMA Limited (NADAQ: XOMA) is down 32% premarket on heavy volume to $3.40, relative to a 52-week range of $2.24-$12.60. The company reported the failure of a diabetes treatment in trial.

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: CREE, MOTR, XOMA

The Twitter-24/7 Wall St. Stock Market Report 6.17.2010 The Wisdom Of Crowds?

247wallst — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:28:16 +0000

Twitter has, by most estimates, 100 million members, which makes it one of the largest social networks in the world. All major media companies are on Twitter and some have more than one million Twitter users. It raises the question of whether there is wisdom in crowds.

24/7 Wall St. will look at the Twitter posts at Reuters Biz, WSJ, Financial Times, CNN Money, MarketWatch, CNBC, and 24/7 Wall St. each day to see which stocks are most frequently mentioned. It is clear that in this area of social media these tweet are a sign of which companies the Twitter universe is interested in. These financial sites are followed by a combined 625,000 Twitter users which makes them a sizeable sample of Wall St.’s interests. In some cases, we will publish the actual tweets from the sites.

Among the most tweeted stocks on market aggregator Top Stock Tweets include EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF, BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Xoma Ltd (NASDAQ: XOMA), Google Inc. (NYSE: GOOG), Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX), Cirrus Logic, Inc (NASDAQ: CRUS), and AOL, Inc. (NYSE: AOL)FT: EU edges towards disclosing bank ‘stress tests’: France joined calls for the release of ‘stress test results’ on t… http://bit.ly/blwcWR

WSJ: Inspector general says MMS is carrying out its investigation of Gulf oil spill in a “completely backwards” manner. http://wsj.com

Daily Finance: BP’s Tony Hayward Is Set to Be ‘Sliced and Diced’ http://bit.ly/9NZwCc

CNN Money: S&P president: credit ratings matter, shouldn’t be mandatory http://bit.ly/9qWgDq

Yahoo! Finance: $BP shares may well rally, and if they do, consider taking advantage of any move up http://yhoo.it/bSMz8F

MarketWatch: #UK financial system gets unwound http://bit.ly/9FUha1

NYT DealBook: BP Shares Rise After Deal on Cleanup Costs http://nyti.ms/czkfoP

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Research Tagged: AAPL, AOL, BP, EURUSD, GBPUSD, GOOG, NBIX, RUS, Twitter, XOMA

Top Day Trader Alerts (ABK, PALM, ENMD, XOMA, MIPI, BPOP, EXPE, PCLN, HBAN, KEY, RF)

Administrator — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:07:38 +0000

These are the top day trader and active trader alerts seen in action this morning. We have details in the links over at VSInvestor.com with more details and analysis on each where applicable.

Ambac Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: ABK) is up big again on continuation of the same news from last Thursday after 50%+ gains Friday and 100%+ gains on Monday.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) was down over 3% and is getting worse as some reality is coming into play over what it may fetch in a buyout.

EntreMed, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENMD) is up over 25% on cancer news this morning.

Xoma Ltd. (NASDAQ: XOMA) is surging 20% on patent awards.

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPI) is looking to b today’s easy winner as shares are up nearly 200% on positive cancer news.

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP) is up double-digits despite a securities offering and a loss.

Goldman Sachs did an analyst coverage switcheroo and shares of Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) are up while Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN).

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN), KeyCorp. (NYSE: KEY), and Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) are all lower by 2% to 3% after UBS cut their ratings down to a SELL rating.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: ABK, BPOP, ENMD, EXPE, HBAN, KEY, MIPI, PALM, PCLN, RF, XOMA

XOMA’s Hijack Financing On News (XOMA)

247wallst — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:46:52 +0000

XOMA Ltd. (NASDAQ: XOMA) has seen shares on a tear yesterday and then again this morning. It was late yesterday that the company said it would also be entitled to royalties from its partner’s approval for CIMZIA after an approval indication for rheumatoid arthritis. And it was just this morning that the company announced a collaboration with Zymeworks for an antibody research program. Now, the company announced that it is raising about $10 million, via a share sale.

The company has entered into a definitive agreement with an institutional investor to sell 11,764,706 units. Each unit will consist of 1 share of common stock and 1 warrant to purchase a half-share (0.5 shares, or 5,882,353 common shares in total). The gross proceeds will generate roughly $10 million before placement fees. This was also listed as a ‘registered direct’ offering.

Xoma noted that the investor has agreed to purchase the units at a purchase price of $0.85 per unit. The warrants will be exercisable at any time on or after May 15, 2009 and prior to the fifth anniversary of the closing of the transaction at an exercise price of $1.02 per share. That is listed as 120% of the closing price yesterday. Canaccord Adams Inc. acted as placement agent for the offering.

The good news is that the company was able to raise cash. The bad news is that did it within about 16 hours of two press releases that lured investors in. There is always a risk that any financing in any small cap biotechs and molecule companies that this can occur. It depends on which side of the fence you are on when determining if you support it or not, but this looks like a hijack financing where you get sucked in only for the benefit of others.

Despite the term “hijack financing,” not all of these end up being bad nor do they necessarily bring on adverse moves. We have now seen 11.7 million shares trade hands between the first ten minutes and the pre-market session. Shares are up 17% at $1.00, but shares were up much more than this before the news came out.

Jon C. Ogg
May 15, 2009

Posted in Biotech, Drug companies, Secondary Offering Tagged: XOMA

Biotech Business Daily (AMAG, CEGE, IMCL, XOMA, TRCA)

247wallst — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:21:25 +0000

AMAG Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMAG) has been added to the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NASDAQ: NBI) beginning May 19, 2008. AMAG shares up $1.26 at $39.85. The 52-week range is $38.16 to $72.95.

Cell Genesys (NASDAQ: CEGE) offered 7.1 shares for $30 million in gross proceeds to a single institutional investor at $4.22 per share to finance product development and general corporate purposes. Shares are down 6% to $42.12. The 52-week is $30.34 to $49.18.

Imclone Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: IMCL) is down almost 5% after a downgrade by Morgan Stanley, citing belief that Erbitux will fail to reach expectations. Shares are trading at $42.31 in mid-day trading. The 52-week range is $30.34 to $49.18.

XOMA Ltd. (NASDAQ: XOMA) down over 8% after reporting larger than expected first quarter losses. They showed a loss of $14.2 million and revenues of $12.1 million, failing to hit estimates by Thomson of $16.4 million. Shares trading at $2.12. The 52-week range is $1.96 to $4.39.

Tercica Inc. (NASDAQ: TRCA) up almost 7% today in anticipation of positive first quarter earnings to be announced after market close. Shares trading at $4.77on a 52-week range of $4.30 to $8.11.

Rachel Lopez
May 12, 2008

Xoma Gets A Boost

247wallst — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:38:47 +0000

Biopharmaceutical company Xoma (XOMA) is having its luck day. After its stock traded down as low as $2.24, its shares are up almost 20% today on news that it bacterial cell expression technology to Pfizer to Pfzier (PFE). The deal comes with a $30 million up-front payment.

While that may not seem like much, XOMA lost $7.5 million on revenue of $14.1 million in the last quarter.

The stock still appears expensive, with a market cap of $370 million.

Maybe the royalties on the Pfizer deal, if there end up being any, will help justify the company’s valuation.

Douglas A. McIntyre