We continue to believe that financial stocks are quite undervalued as well. During the quarter we made a new investment in Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY). Ally was founded nearly a century ago as General Motors Acceptance Corporation. Its purpose then was to provide financing to GM dealers and retail customers. Today, Ally is no longer owned by GM. It serves a wide variety of dealers (including Ford, Chrysler and Toyota), and it is carefully building a consumer franchise. In our view, investors are myopically concerned that the auto business is at a cyclical peak. U.S. auto sales are near record levels, and credit losses are below long-term averages. Some believe Ally’s earnings have nowhere to go but down. We believe cyclical pressures will be more than offset by continued internal improvements, such as funding cost reductions (low-cost online deposits grew 19% in the third quarter of 2016) and improving the capital structure. With Ally’s stock trading at roughly 68% of tangible book value, we believe Ally is a compelling addition to the Oakmark Select Fund. We didn’t eliminate any positions during the quarter and exit 2016 with 20 investments in the portfolio.
From Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio)’s Oakmark Select Fund fourth quarter 2016 commentary.
Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc.(BCRX)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin] Gainers
Loxo Oncology Inc (NASDAQ: LOXO) rose 32.7 percent to $65.00 in pre-market trading after the company reported that larotrectinib trial demonstrated 76 percent confirmed objective response rate.
Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: DVAX) shares rose 22 percent to $7.20 in the pre-market trading session after the company on Friday presented updated data for SD-101 in combination with KEYTRUDA.
Puma Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ: PBYI) rose 21.7 percent to $99.75 in pre-market trading as the company disclosed positive PB272 Phase 2 data from TBCRC 022 trial at ASCO17.
Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ: HMNY) shares rose 20.7 percent to $3.21 in pre-market trading after the company reported that RedZone has acquired all the assets of Trendit including three technology patents.
Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE: FOR) rose 13.1 percent to $16.05 in pre-market trading after D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE: DHI) proposed to buy 75 percent of Forestar Group for $16.25 per share in cash.
TG Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: TGTX) shares rose 12 percent to $15.50 in pre-market trading after the company said Phase 3 GENUINE trial met primary endpoint with TG-1101 + ibrutinib increasing overall response rate by >70 percent versuss ibrutinib alone.
Gigamon Inc (NYSE: GIMO) gained 10.8 percent to $43.55. Reuters reported that Gigamon is exploring a potential sale.
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX) rose 8.7 percent to $6.00 in pre-market trading after the company announced Rapivab pediatric sNDA acceptance by the FDA.
Array Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ: ARRY) rose 7.2 percent to $8.77 in pre-market trading after gaining 5.68 percent on Friday.
Ehi Car Services Ltd (ADR) (NYSE: EHIC) shares rose 6.4 percent to $10.76 in pre-market trading. eHi Car Services posted Q1 earnings of $0.06 on sales of $89.43 million.
Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: SWKS) rose 5.9 percent to $114.79 in pre-market trading after gaining 0.69 percent on Friday.
Sorl Auto - [By Monica Gerson]
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX) shares gained 5.98% to $6.91 in the pre-market session after the company has been awarded contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop BCX4430 for the treatment of Marburg virus disease.
- [By Sean Williams]
Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX), a biotech company that develops small-molecule drugs to block enzymes involved in disease proliferation, surged as much as 12% today after a report was issued that a highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu was found in the northern part of Malaysia.
Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: BanColombia S.A.(CIB)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Matt Smith]
Bancolombia appears attractively priced
Another Colombian company that appears under-valued is the Andean country’s largest commercial bank Bancolombia (NYSE: CIB ) . For the year-to-date Bancolombia’s share price fell 17% because of a weak second quarter bottom-line. This decline was primarily caused by the bank’s net income plunging by 41% year-over-year because of mark-to-market losses caused by the value lost in the bank’s securities portfolio. - [By Lisa Levin]
Foreign Regional Banks: This industry declined 2 percent by 11:00 am with Bancolombia SA (ADR) (NYSE: CIB) moving down 3.7 percent. Bancolombia’s PEG ratio is 4.51.
- [By Javier Hasse]
Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded shares of Bancolombia SA (ADR) (NYSE: CIB) from Outperform to Neutral, while boosting their price target from $38 to $40.
Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: Eli Lilly and Company(LLY)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Following the decision of the PTAB not to institute CHRS IPR on the 166 Humira formulation patent, we continue to anticipate that first likely launch of biosimilar adalimumab (Humira) in the US will be delayed until 2020, in line with our published forecasts and biosimilar model. We anticipate the open IPR hearings for the 135 dosing patent on Humira (filed by Boehringer and Coherus) to begin in Feb 2017 with the ruling in May. We rateAbbVie a Buy. We continue to prefer BUY rated Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY) among the US names.
- [By Dimitra DeFotis]
Shares of Eli Lilly (LLY) are down nearly 13% this morning after a late-stage Alzheimer’s drug trial failed to produce expected results.
Biogen(BIIB), down nearly 6% today, also is working on an Alzheimer’s treatment; Merck (MRK) shareswere down 1% in recent trading.
Lilly was testing the drug as a treatment for mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.Credit Suisse analysts were hopeful the drug trial would show “a statistically significant impact on cognition.”MarketWatch reports:
“Eli Lilly said it would not pursue approval for the drug to treat mild dementia due to Alzheimers disease and that it will ‘evaluate the impact of these results on the development plans for solanezumab and our other Alzheimers pipeline assets’ … More specifics about the solanezumab drug, expected the night of Dec. 9 during a meeting of the Clinical Trials on Alzheimers Disease (CTAD), could have repercussions for whats called the beta amyloid hypothesis in Alzheimers disease treatments, which target protein fragments that some believe are responsible for the disease …”
On Nov. 15, J.P. Morgan analysts Chris Schott, Aditi Singhania, Dana Flanders and Christopher Neyor noted that trial success had a low probability. But they kept their$95 price target on the stock, noting the drug pipeline offers other opportunities. Their target implies upside of more than 40% from a recent price near $66. They wrote:
“… On solanezumab … While the FDA recommends both cognitive and function endpoints for Alzheimers drug approvals, we expect the agency to review solanezumab on the totality of evidence, and we would not be surprised to see a cognitive benefit coupled with a trend in secondary functional endpoints be sufficient for approval … regardless of the solanezumab outcome, we see a diverse range of new product opportunities supporting LLY
- [By Johanna Bennett]
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) and Biogen (BIIB) are far from the only two drug makers racing to deliver a new treatment for Alzheimers disease. But they are pretty much leading the pack.
The market for an effective therapy that actually slows the progression of the disease would likely generate billions of dollars in annual sales. It is quite literally the drug industrys version of the holy grail.
And according to Barclays analysts Geoff Meacham and Paul Choi, the next few weeks could prove to be one of the most fertile periods in Alzheimers disease research since 2008.
We think the most likely outcome for Lilly’s Phase 3 EXPEDITION 3 (E3) solanezumab trial is the primary cognition (ADAS-Cog14) endpoint is met (just achieving statistical significance with a p-value <0.05) and mixed results on the secondary endpoints including function (ADL), which we believe should be good enough to support a regulatory submission. While aducanumab has a marginally different mechanism of action, we nevertheless expect BIIB shares to trade in sympathy to Lilly.
Implications for Biogen and Merck: The E3 results are likely to result in volatility for Biogen (up 20-30%, down 10-15%) as Alzheimer’s drives both long-term growth and M&A value even though aducanumab works differently from solanezumab.
Aducanumab dose titration data is expected at the CTAD meeting (San Diego, Dec. 9). Merck’s Phase 2/3 EPOCH verubecestat (BACE) trial is scheduled to finish in June 2017 but unlike E3, PET scans/CSF tests for A were not an inclusion criteria. We think Merck shares could move 3% to 5% in either direction in sympathy to E3.
At $76.58, Lillys share price has fallen more than 9% over the past year, while Biogen has climbed more than 9% over the same span.
- [By David Zeiler]
Pharma stocks shot up in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory. Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) and Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) both rose about 6%, while Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) jumped 7%.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
That’s why Cramer said he’d use today’s weakness to buy Merck (MRK) , Eli Lilly (LLY) , Pfizer (PFE) and Allergan (AGN) , an Action Alerts PLUS holding.
Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: Halyard Health, Inc.(HYH)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Nelson Hem]
See what Barron’s feels are the prospects for Ingersoll-Rand PLC (NYSE: IR) despite the woes in energy, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (NYSE: KORS) with its new products and international expansion, the Valvoline spinoff from Ashland Inc (NYSE: ASH), as well as Halyard Health Inc (NYSE: HYH) as it pursues acquisitions and expands its product lineup.
- [By Nelson Hem]
Medical products maker Halyard Health Inc (NYSE: HYH) stumbled after its spinoff from paper products giant Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE: KMB), according to “Halyard Health Shares Look Poised to Double” by David Englander. See why Barron’s thinks its shares could double as this Georgia-based company pursues acquisitions and expands its product lineup.
Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: Black Diamond, Inc.(BDE)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Jim Robertson]
At the beginning of the week, our Under the Radar Moversnewsletter suggested small cap sporting & outdoor goods stock Black Diamond Inc (NASDAQ: BDE) as a short/bearish trade:
Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: Occidental Petroleum Corporation(OXY)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Garrett Cook]
Citi notes that presentations from producers (the bank specifically notes Anadarko (NYSE: APC), Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), and Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD)) showed a lack of commitment to enter 2017 hedge programs to lock in the economics for drilling.
- [By Chris Lange]
Occidental Petroleum Corp.s (NYSE: OXY) short interest increased to 16.11 million shares from the previous reading of 15.70 million. Shares were recently at $62.83, in a 52-week range of $61.01 to $78.48.
- [By Chris Lange]
Occidental Petroleum Corp.s (NYSE: OXY) short interest increased to 17.60 million shares from the previous reading of 15.53 million. Shares closed most recently at $66.90, in a 52-week range of $58.24 to $78.48.
- [By Michael Flannelly]
Early on Monday, analysts at Deutsche Bank lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) to reflect a lower-than-expected valuation of an asset that the oil and gas exploration company is trying to sell.
Though the analysts lowered OXY’s price target from $114 to $109, they still maintain a “Buy” rating on the stock. The new price target suggests a 22% upside to the stock’s Friday closing price of $89.49.
Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey said, “Bloomberg Finance LP reports that Oxy is seeking sale of 40% of Mideast operations for around $8bn, which would imply $20bn total value for the unit. However reportedly some suitors are valuing the asset at around $15bn. This is a relatively negative valuation against our previous view that Oxy would be seeking $25+bn for its MENA business. We are cutting our price target to $109/share to reflect this lower implied valuation.”
Occidental Petroleum shares were up 96 cents, or 1.07%, during pre-market trading on Monday. The stock is up 16.81% year-to-date.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
We have seen several dividend cuts in the recent past, including Anadarko Petroleum cutting its dividend by 81%…and we expect more companies to follow suit. Chesapeake Energy (CHK), ConocoPhillips (COP), Encana,Marathon Oil and Noble Energy (NBL) are among energy companies that have also cut dividends in the past 12 months, but dividend requirements even after several cuts will consume ~26% of 2016 estimated cash flow at current dividend rates (15% excluding Occidental Petroleum (OXY)) for the large cap E&Ps we cover. We believe most of the companies with a dividend yield of more than 1.5% should consider cutting the dividend and find the following companies more likely than not to reduce dividends:Apache (2.5% yield),Devon Energy (4%),Encana (1.5%) andMarathon Oil (2.5%). We believe Canadian Natural Resource (CNQ) (3.0%) is likely to maintain its dividend while Occidental (4.5%) has the financial strength to maintain or even increase the dividend…
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Stocks that made the cut include General Motors (GM), Coca-Cola Company (KO), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and General Electric (GE).
