January 26, 2018 7:30am
Second step, partnering its future; second includes defining its fitness as an operating company i.e. its runway and proximity to clinical results
Third, the balance of G&A versus development spending
Fourth, greater transparency and guidance to reassure investors to stay the course
Pre-open indications: 7 SELLs and 0 BUY
Higher open expected
Dow futures are UP +0.20% (+54 points) and NASDAQ futures are UP +0.42% (+29 points)
US futures point to a positive open ahead of GDP, Trump speech
European stocks rise on back of solid earnings
Asian stocks closes mixed as dollar wobbles following overnight gains
Issues that will affect the trading day: U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) data is set to keep investors on edge.
Data docket: GDP data set to come out at 8:30 a.m. ET, along with the durable goods orders data, investors will be poring over the figures to see if it provides any clues as to how the U.S. economy is faring.
Issues on the political front: President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland,
Been where, done what ...
RegMed, stem and cell therapy sector’s record over 5 sessions (of 40 covered companies):
· Thursday closed POSITIVE with 17 decliners, 21 advancers and 2 flats;
· Wednesday closed NEGATIVE with 22 decliners, 16 advancers and 2 flats;
· Tuesday closed POSITIVE with 9 decliners, 28 advancers and 3 flats;
· Monday closed POSITIVE with 9 decliners, 26 advancers and 5 flats;
· Last Friday closed closely POSITIVE with 18 decliners, 21 advancers and 1 flat;
Henry’omics:
From Thursday night’s closing bell post, “…gains improve. I always appreciate an upside but, yesterday’s session was oversold, today’s it’s a hiccup and … I see speculation without firmer fundamentals – hiccups are usually solved by taking a deep breath – today, I say don’t hold it!”
As I stated, “It is the lack of news around the sector’s short and near-term catalysts which could make “our” universe - a tough investment proposition in MY view. I also think there is more than a lot of investor FATIQUE re pricing movement …!”
TGIF, I'd be safe and NOT long ...
Today’s indications:
- The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (IBB) is NOT indicating in Friday’s pre-market;
- The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) is indicating a POSITIVE +0.02% in Friday’s pre-market;
- The Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) is NOT indicating in Friday’s pre-open;
- The iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) is indicating a POSITIVE +0.4% in Friday’s pre-open
Companies in my headlights:
Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM) closed up +$0.70 to $6.45 with 3.578 M shares traded <3 month average = 584.7 K shares>. Talk about “peaks” – wow, the is also a premium of $1.80 or +27.9% and has a negative aftermarket indication of $0.05 or -0.78% - SELL;
Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC) closed up $0.40 to $4.70 after Wednesday’s +$0.05 to $4.30 with 170 K shares traded <3 month average = 102.3 k shares> after Tuesday’s +$0.10 to $4.25, Monday’s +$0.05 to $4.15 with 31.6 K shares traded and last Friday’s +$0.10 to $4.10 with 57.8 K shares traded. There is a +$0.75 or +15.9% premium after seven (7) sessions, AGTC also has clinical trial timing issues and spending woes – Maintaining SELL;
BioLife Solutions (BLFS) closed up +$0.11 to $5.90 with 30.19 K shares traded <3 month average = 95.4 K shares>. BLFS is still selling transportation “juice” and doesn’t deserve the multiple; also the chart is very “peaky” – SELL;
bluebird bio (BLUE) closed down -$3.55 to $203.90 after Wednesday’s +$7.25 to $207.45 with 1.35 M shares traded <3 month average = 967.3 K shares> after Tuesday’s +$5.55 to $200.20 with 1.5 M shares traded after Monday’s +$18.70 to $194.65 with 2.48 M shares traded after last Friday’s -$6.15 to $175.95 with 739.6 K shares traded up +$6.85 to $182.10 with 1 M shares traded. The pre-market indication is a negative -$3.90 or -1.88% – Maintaining SELL;
Capricor (CAPR) closed up +$0.09 to $1.69 with 203.1 K shares traded after Wednesday’s -$0.03 to $1.60 with 143.9 K shares traded <3 month average = 721.6 K shares> after Tuesday’s $1.63 with 166.1 k shares traded after Monday’s +$0.03 to $1.66 with 143.2 K shares traded. CAPR over the weekend “scraped” their website promoting its director of finance to CFO, while he changed his Linked-In profile to reflect his new CFO status there was NO public release to shareholders/investors and NO 8-K to reflect a corporate officer change – TYPICAL for CAPR’s habit of NOT reporting the facts. Is this an SEC reporting issue? Monday’s calls to CAPR’s new CFO were NOT returned; even their CEO was “in” our website (RMi) on Tuesday night to browse with no response! Also since they desperately need to finance, a golden axiom is to NOT change CFOs – they have “real” knowledge of their MANY short-comings. The aftermarket indication is a negative -$0.01 or -0.59% – Maintaining SELL;
Fate Therapeutics (FATE) closed up +$0.33 to $8.65 with 469.5 K shares traded <3 month average = 510.4 K shares>. We have seen the highs of $9.10 and the lows of $6.30 while the equity opened 1/2/18 at $6.11; after a trip to Wednesday $8.32 from Tuesday’s $9.12 and Monday’s $8.29 – SELL;
Stemline Therapeutics (STML) closed up +$0.35 to $15.60 with 429.3 K shares traded <3 month average = 323.5 K shares> after Thursday’s +$1.10 to $15.25 after Tuesday’s -$0.20 to $14.15 after Monday’s +$0.70 to $14.25 with 309.8 K shares traded. STML executed an offering of 3.7 M shares which appreciated - Maintaining SELL;
Opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change, and not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice.
Whether information or intelligence is good, bad or somewhere in between; I put into context what is relevant and useful for investors. All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.
Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors does not hold or have positions in securities referred to in this publication.
