Stocks edged higher today despite Donald Trump trashing the health care sector in his press conference today.
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The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 2,275.32 today, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 98.75 points, or 0.5%, to 19,954.28. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2% to5,563.65–and hit its fifth consecutive high–despite the fact that biotech stocks tumbled after Trump said that drug companies “are getting away with murder.”
Instinet’s Frank Cappelleri marvels at the market’s ability to weather selloffs like the one that occurred in biotech stocks:
One reason for this is the market’s continued ability to leverage what’s working and treat laggards in isolation. Biotechs had led early this year. But as profiled Monday, the iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF (IBB) had just gotten back to that key resistance line (near 280), which had stunted many similar oversold rallies last year. So, while the pullback isn’t surprising, it is discouraging, especially if it means the IBB could waste the chance of leveraging the longer term bottoming formation.
Top Biotech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Amgen Inc.(AMGN)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Biotech stocks have been particularly unloved during the past year, with the iShares Nasdaq Biotech Index ETF (IBB) gaining just 7% to the S&P 500′s 20% rise. Today, however, Amgen (AMGN) is getting a lot of love from the market after releasing Street beating earnings and reporting that its anti-cholesterol drug reduced heart attacks.
- [By Chris Lange]
Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is expected to report its most recent quarterly results on Wednesday. The consensus estimates call for $3.00 in EPS and $5.61 billion in revenue. Shares closed trading at $160.41 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $133.64 to $184.21. The consensus price target is $185.13.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
What do I mean? Regeneron’s dropped 14% during the last three months, the result of a patent suit with Amgen(AMGN) over its anti-cholesterol drug Praluent, which a judge had set it wouldn’t be able to sell in the U.S.Then last night, there was finally good news: Ajudge ordered a stay, which would allow Regeneron to sell Praluent, and resulted in a 2% pop in its shares last night after the market close. But then Regeneron reported earnings, and while profits of $3.04 cents a share metthe Street consensus, Regeneron missed on sales and offered disappointing guidance. That caused Regeneron shares to sink 2.1% in pre-open trading.
Top Biotech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ALNY)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Yesterday, after markets closed, it was announced that US Federal District Court Judge Sue Robinson ruled to issue a permanent injunction against Praluent, the PCSK9 mAb for hypercholesterolemia from partners Regeneron and Sanofi, due to infringement of patents from Amgen. The court has imposed a 30-day suspension (stay) on the injunction to allow for settlement or appeal of the District Court decision. Sanofi and Regeneron have announced their intent to appeal the ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The injunction decision is consistent with our counter-consensus published views communicated on 25 January 2016 (“Downgrade to Sell on evidence of likely infringement of Amgen’s PCSK9 patents”) and subsequently. Based on consultation with expert legal counsel, we now put >75% probability Amgen will prevail on appeal and/or Praluent is ultimately removed from the US market, and/or Amgen achieves a settlement substantially in its favor. We currently model $3.3 bn in non-risk-adjusted 2022E US revenues for Praluent, while consensus models $1.2 bn in 2022E US revenues. We reiterate our view from 25 January 2016 to preferentially own Amgen, The Medicines Company (MDCO) (Buy), and Alnylam (ALNY) (Buy) over Regeneron for exposure to PCSK9 inhibitor market dynamics as outcomes trials approach.
- [By Brian Orelli]
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) jumped as much as 14.5% today after announcing earnings after the bell yesterday. As a development-stage biotech, it wasn’t the revenue or the earnings that caused the spike, but the progression of Allnylam’s pipeline.
- [By Chris Dier-Scalise]
On Thursday, the Vetr crowd downgraded Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) from 4.5 stars (Strong Buy), which was issued two days ago, to 3.5 stars (Hold). Crowd sentiment for Alnylam at the time of the downgrade was edging positive, with 66 percent of Vetr user rating bullish.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) shares shot up 53 percent to $114.87 after the company impressed investors with encouraging data from a phase 3 clinical trial. Alnylam, a company dedicated towards treating a wide range of debilitating diseases through ribonucleic acid (RNA) interference (RNAi) therapeutics, said after Tuesday's market close that a phase 3 study called APOLLO met its primary efficacy endpoint and all secondary endpoints.
Top Biotech Stocks To Watch Right Now: ArQule Inc.(ARQL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Paul Ausick]
ArQule Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQL) dropped about 23% Friday, to post a new 52-week low of $1.13 after closing at $1.47 on Thursday. The stock’s 52-week high is $2.17. Volume was about 15 times the daily average of around 150,000 shares. The biopharmaceutical company said this morning that a phase 3 trial of a cancer drug did not meet the primary endpoint of improving overall survival.
Top Biotech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Biogen Idec Inc(BIIB)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Biogen (BIIB) tumbled to the bottom of the S&P 500 today after getting cut by two analysts.
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Biogen dropped 4.7% to $278.96 at 4:19 p.m. today, while the S&P 500 declined 0.2% to 2,381.38.
Leerinks Geoffrey Porges cited the “slower than expected ramp for Spinraza” in cutting Biogen to Market Perform from Outperform, while Morgan Stanly’s Matthew Harrison wrote that his decision to cut Biogen to Market Weight from Overweight was “not a downside call, but a timing call.”
Biogen’s market capitalization fell to $60.2 billion today from $63.2 billion yesterday. It reported net income of $3.7 billion on sales of $10.2 billion in 2016.
Barron’s Teresa Rivas recommended buying Biogen in December after the company released positive trial data on its Alzheimer’s drug.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Biogen (BIIB) has dropped 2.2% to $286.16 after getting cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Leerink, and to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
Breakups have the potential to create a lot of value. Just look at what Biogen (BIIB) did with its hemophilia franchise. Spun out as Bioverativ (BIVV) , shares started trading earlier this year. The stock has climbed some 23% on seemingly no news, Cramer noted.
- [By WWW.MONEYSHOW.COM]
Biogen (BIIB)
Biogen discovers, develops and delivers innovative therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders.
- [By Chris Lange]
Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) had its short interest increase to 2.63 million shares from the previous 2.36 million. The stock closed Friday at $305.20, within a 52-week range of $223.02 to $333.65.
