Carl Icahn is getting more interested in biotech, notably Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY). For starters, Icahn has a stake in BMY, although it’s unclear how much. And now he has brought on a biotech expert to help run his fund. Icahn hired Harvard geneticist Richard Mulligan as a portfolio manager. Mulligan has worked with Icahn in the past, and was a managing director at Icahn protege Alex Denner’s Sarissa Capital for the last three years.
The hire signals that Icahn is ready to formally take on the beaten-down biotech space. The iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF (NASDAQ:IBB) is down some 12% in the last 24 months, while the S&P 500 is up 13%. Meanwhile, BMY has also been an underperformer, with shares down 5% in the same period. The thesis is that the $100 billion drug company might be a buyout target. Generally, the focus is on selling off smaller companies to the larger ones, but Icahn is aiming high here. This comes after Denner left Icahn’s firm in 2013.
Beyond just a buyout target, BMY has the pipeline that makes it a solid company, but the weakness in its immunotherapy drug Opdivo has created the buying opportunity, as BMY shares have fallen 25% since the 2016 high.
Top 10 Biotech Stocks To Watch For 2018: Biogen Idec Inc(BIIB)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Brian Orelli]
Data source: Ionis Pharmaceuticals.
What happened with Ionis Pharmaceuticals this quarter?
Revenue increased thanks to $41 million in royalties from Biogen’s (NASDAQ:BIIB) sales of Spinraza, up from just $5 million in the year-ago quarter. Because the tiered royalty rates reset each year, the royalties as a percentage of sales will end up being higher in the quarters to come this year. Despite the higher revenue, earnings turned negative on a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) basis: Ionis and Akcea Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKCA) increased spending in preparation for the launch of Tegsedi for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR), and Waylivra for familial chylomicronemia syndrome, a rare disease that causes the buildup of lipids. Ionis is still the majority owner of Akcea, so its financials are incorporated into Ionis’ financials. The Food and Drug Administration pushed back its goal for making a decision on the marketing application for Tegsedi (the new brand name for inotersen) to Oct. 6, 2018. Ionis provided additional data analysis that the FDA needs additional time to review. In April, Ionis signed another deal with Biogen to develop antisense drugs for neurological disorders. In the deal, Ionis gets $1 billion up front, including an equity investment, in exchange for Biogen having first choice of neurology targets on which to exclusively collaborate with Ionis. Biogen is paying for everything beyond the initial discovery stage, with Ionis eligible for royalties and milestone payments as the drugs advance.
Image source: Getty Images.
- [By ]
This week we get our first look at quarterly numbers from major drug and biotech giants such as AbbVie (ABBV) , Amgen (AMGN) , Biogen (BIIB) , Biomarin Pharmaceuticals (BMRN) and Action Alerts PLUS holding Eli Lilly (LLY) , which all provide the market a glimpse of how the first quarter was for the industry over the next few days,” according to Real Money Pro columnist Bret Jensen.
- [By Logan Wallace]
Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported $6.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.93 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. Biogen had a net margin of 23.54% and a return on equity of 37.64%. Biogen’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.20 earnings per share. research analysts anticipate that Biogen will post 23.94 earnings per share for the current year.
- [By Shannon Jones]
In this week’s episode of Industry Focus: Healthcare, host Michael Douglass and Motley Fool contributor Shannon Jones look at what went wrong with Incyte’s Epacadostat, where the company can go from here, and what this unfortunately means for the immuno-oncology sector on the whole. Then, in more pleasant news, the hosts dive into Novartis’ (NYSE:NVS) newest acquisition of gene therapy company AveXis. Find out what this means for Novartis, why Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB)might be getting the stink eye from their investors right about now, whether or not Novartis overpaid to tuck this company under their belt, and more.
- [By Chris Lange]
Short interest in Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) increased to 3.50 million shares from the previous 3.16 million. The stock recently traded at $262.15, within a 52-week range of $244.28 to $370.57.
Top 10 Biotech Stocks To Watch For 2018: ArQule Inc.(ARQL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ethan Ryder]
Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on ArQule (ARQL)
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- [By Joseph Griffin]
ArQule (NASDAQ:ARQL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $6.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $5.00. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 134.38% from the company’s previous close.
- [By Stephan Byrd]
ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQL) Director Ronald M. Lindsay acquired 23,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $2.67 per share, for a total transaction of $63,813.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 43,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $117,213. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.
Top 10 Biotech Stocks To Watch For 2018: Amgen Inc.(AMGN)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Keith Speights]
Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) has been the hands-down winner over Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) in terms of stock performance over the last year. It’s the same story for revenue generated. Celgene beat Amgen in earnings, but only because of a technicality: Amgen incurred a big one-time tax hit in 2017.
- [By Todd Campbell]
One of these two drugs is Amgen’s (NASDAQ:AMGN) Repatha, and the other is Praluent, which was co-developed by Sanofi SA (NYSE:SNY) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN). Both drugs launched to billion-dollar blockbuster expectations, but because they’re complex biologics that are expensive to make, they cost about $14,000 per year. Their high cost, plus the fact that they’re injected rather than taken orally, may make them best suited for patients with stubbornly high cholesterol who are at the greatest risk of heart disease.
- [By Keith Speights]
The way to determine where a puck is going to be requires evaluating its direction and speed. I used a similar approach to identify five stocks with fast-growing dividends: Boeing (NYSE:BA), Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN), and AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV). Here’s why these stocks could be great picks for dividend-seeking investors.
- [By Chris Lange]
Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) saw its short interest fall to 9.79 million shares from the previous level of 10.46 million. Shares were last seen at $170.00, in a 52-week trading range of $152.16 to $201.23.
- [By Joseph Griffin]
Field & Main Bank grew its stake in shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,153 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 345 shares during the quarter. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Amgen were worth $708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
In September of 2016, Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) announced that the FDA had approved its Amjevita as a biosimilar to Humira for multiple inflammatory diseases that included RA and several other related inflammatory diseases.
Top 10 Biotech Stocks To Watch For 2018: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ALNY)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Keith Speights]
I wrote three months ago that I viewed Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) stock as a pretty good pick — but with a couple of qualifications. First, I didn’t think that the biotech would generate returns in 2018 nearly as great as it did last year. Second, I thought that there were even better stocks to buy than Alnylam.
- [By Max Byerly]
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.41) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $21.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.23 million. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 36.81% and a negative net margin of 565.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.25) earnings per share. equities analysts anticipate that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
- [By Brian Orelli]
The delay in an FDA decision for Tegsedi puts it behind competitor Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY), which expects to hear from the FDA by Aug. 11 for its hATTR drug patisiran. But Sarah Boyce, the president at Akcea Therapeutics, doesn’t think a few months will really matter: “We don’t really feel that’s going to have any impact and the drugs will be close enough together from a launch perspective. So not really [going] to make any adjustments, and we’re very well prepared to be ready to launch following approval.”
- [By Brian Orelli]
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) released first-quarter results last week, but all eyes were looking forward as the company waits for a potential approval of its hereditary TTR amyloidosis (ATTR) drug, patisiran.
