February 20, 2019 6:30pm

As quarterly forecasts are not meeting anticipation

Volatility is heightened as “street” expectations are taking a “kitchen insinkerator” churn

Pre-open indications: 3 HITs and 2 MISS (1 by pennies)

Earnings: Mesoblast (MESO) reports Q2 net loss of -$24.6 M or -$5.00 per share and 1st half “numbers - $77 M in cash ($15 M of debt financing), revenue of $13.5 M, an R&D increase of $2.4 M and SG&A with a $5.1 M financing cost

 

It’s not hard to be right so often; that’s why the term “quantamental,” a blend of the two styles, may soon become common parlance among investors and traders.


There are a variety of end uses to sector forecasts; the most prominent, they are used to protect your portfolio’s life and value.

 

Markets and indexes:

  • The Dow closed up +63.12 points or +0.24% to 25,954.44
  • The S&P closed up +4.94 points or +0.18% to 2,784.70
  • The NASDAQ was up +2.30  points or +0.03% to 7,489.07

 

Henry’omics:

Sector equities took a hit… again as the blow-back was not as deep but, it still happened.

  • Wednesday (2/20) closed NEGATIVE with 24 decliners, 20 advancers and 1 flat;
  • Tuesday closed NEGATIVE with 24 decliners, 18 advancers and 3 flats;
  • Monday was a market holiday;

Reiterating, “Risk is exhibited by the drop in share pricing as quarterly and FY18 results caused a deflation in pricing.”

U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting reaffirmed for investors that the U.S. central bank would be "patient" with respect to further interest rate hikes. But policymakers gave little sense of how long their "patient" stance on the U.S. rate policy would last, according to minutes from the Jan. 29-30 meeting, resulting in jumpy afternoon activity and stocks trading on both sides of unchanged <MarketWatch>.

 

Pre-open post, “the cracks in the sector; until “earnings” season do we part and break-up to make-up once the kiss of the trade makes us yearn to be rebought and oversold … Which will be the usual scenario of exaggerated declines and upside corrections?”

I also stated, “Sector focus will be on earnings today – Mesoblast (MESO) and will there be further blow-back of SAGE and ONCE?”

 

Pre-open indications: 3 HITs and 2 MISS

  • Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO) closed down -$0.26 – miss;
  • Pluristem (PSTI) closed up +$0.01 – hit;
  • CRISPER Therapeutics (CRSP) closed down -$0.42 - hit;
  • Mesoblast (MESO) closed up +$0.06 – miss;
  • Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals (RARE) closed up +$3.72 – hit;

 

The advance/decline line scenario of 45 covered companies:  

  • The open was negative with the A/DL to 19/25 and 1 flat;
  • The mid-day slipped further negative with an A/DL of 15/29 and 1 flat;
  • The close was negative with an A/DL of 20/24 and 1 flat;

 

Bouncing to the downside:  

  • SAGE (-$5.29 after yesterday’s -$3.15), ALNY (-$2.630, BLUE (-$2.17), BMRN (-$1.190 and CLLS (-$0.74 after yesterday’s +$0.47)

Leading the pack and peers to the upside were:

  • RENE.L (+$9.00), RARE (+$3.72), BOLD (+$0.98), QURE (+$0.94) and FIXX (+$0.77)

Closing FLAT … ONVO

 

Tonight’s percentage (%) indicators: 

  • Range of the 24 upside was +0.11% (AXGN) to +18.95% (RENE.L) while the 20 downside ranged from -0.29% (IONS) to -15.67% (CUR -$0.094) with 1 flat close (ONVO).

Volume stat: 

  • 9 out of the 20 upside had higher (than the 3 month average) volume
  • 6 out of the 24 downside experienced greater volume (than the 3 month average)

 

Daily volume metrics:

… Greatest volume (descending) to the downside: 

  • SGMO, VSTM, BMRN, MDXG and BTX

… Upside volume was weighted to:

  • HSGX, SLDB, RARE, EDIT and XON

 

The “dogs” are barking:

Athersys (ATHX) was down -$0.04 to $1.48. What has ATHX done for shareholders in years – NOTHING as to share pricing but, they sure did pay their CEO ($7.29 K per year, bonus, car allowance and a payment to attend his own board of director meeting!

Biostage (BSTG) closed down -$0.40 to $2.30 with 1,573 shares traded (3 month average = 2,748 shares. They desperately NEED a financing to keep the new 100K cafeteria open for 15 employees. DST, their major investor also locates their offices there – are they reimbursing the company for space utilized? There will be a LOT of QUESTIONS to be ASKED and ANSWERED by or on the quarterly conference call.

Histogenics (HSGX) closed up +$0.002 to a wholesome $0.132 after an ignominious $0.66 offering.  It’s all about keeping the management salaries flowing and investors further … RAPED! Lawyers should be … salivating over this equity and its Board of Directors (BOD) role …!

Caladrius Biosciences (CLBS) closed down -$0.02 to 4.15 … where has it been and where is it going?

Pluristem (PSTI) gets some good new and the stock moves +$0.01 (NASA collaboration) - the “Sword of Damocles” of a Jeffries $50 M offering hangs over its head.

 

The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB) indicator:

  • Wednesday was down -0.27% after NOT indicating in the pre-market;
  • Tuesday was down -0.57% after NOT indicating in the pre-market;
  • Monday was a market holiday;
  • Friday was up +1.65% after NOT indicating in the pre-market;
  • Thursday was up +0.43% after NOT indicating in the pre-market;
  • Last Wednesday was up +0.30% after NOT indicating in the pre-market;

 

February sessions:

Wednesday (2/20) closed NEGATIVE with 24 decliners, 20 advancers and 1 flat;

Tuesday closed NEGATIVE with 24 decliners, 18 advancers and 3 flats;

Monday was a market holiday;

Friday closed POSITIVE with 6 decliners, 38 advancers and 1 flat;

Thursday closed NEGATIVE with 28 decliners, 16 advancers and 1 flat;

Wednesday (2/13) closed NEGATIVE with 25 decliners, 19 advancers and 1 flat;

Tuesday closed POSITIVE with 11 decliners, 33 advancers and 1 flat;

Monday closed POSITIVE with 14 decliners, 30 advancers and 1 flat;

Friday closed POSITIVE with 18 decliners, 25 advancers and 2 flat;

Thursday closed NEGATIVE with 37 decliners, 7 advancers and 1 flat;

Wednesday (2/6) closed NEGATIVE with 24 decliners, 20 advancers and 1 flat;

Tuesday closed NEGATIVE with 26 decliners, 15 advancers and 4 flat;

Monday closed POSITIVE with 16 decliners, 27 advancers and 2 flat;

Friday closed POSITIVE with 14 decliners, 29 advancers and 2 flat;

 

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.