Chelsea Therapeutics Rally — Speculation or Desperation?

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By Jon C. Ogg Published

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Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHTP) is rallying on Wednesday after a report in Seeking Alpha called its Northera, a treatment for symptomatic neurogenic hypotension in Parkinson’s patients, a shoe-in for approval, along with the note that shares could rise 100% from here.

Note that the article’s writer does own shares of Chelsea Therapeutics. That always makes for an interesting argument, even when you disclose that you are in fact talking up your book.

Chelsea shares are up almost 9% at $2.01 so far this morning. However, this is a mere $134 million company by market cap. The 52-week trading range is $0.70 to $4.21, and shares have traded all over the place, from $1.50 to about $7 since 2005. Nearly 4 million shares have traded hands today, versus an average daily volume of just under 1.5 million shares, so this is already within striking distance of a 200% alert above normal daily trading volume.

This stock does trade stock options, but the open interest is rather thin for the April, May and June expirations. At $2.00, some traders would argue that the stock is already trading like an option.

Chelsea is one of those companies that should be called unsuitable for widows and orphans.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.

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