RegMed Investors’ (RMi) closing bell: the sector rose on an oversold prompt and closed to the upside

April 26, 2019 5:52pm

Momentum slowed with low volume as the NASDAQ hit a new high and the IBB (+0.65%) snorted after Thursday's (+1.01%)

Pre-open indications: 5 HITs and 2 MISS

Ben Graham used to talk about the stock market being a cross between a voting machine and a weighing machine. 

Markets and indexes:

• The Dow closed up +81.25 points or +0.31% to 26,543.33
• The S&P closed up +13.71 points or +0.47% at 2,939.88
• The NASDAQ was up +27.72 points or +0.34% to 8,146.40

Henry’omics:

Sector equities spurted to the upside after a negative mid-day having opened positive!

A late-afternoon burst of buying lifted the major U.S. stock indexes, which had spent much of the day drifting.

The gains nudged the S&P 500 index and NASDAQ to new closing highs for the second time this week. Both indexes also set record highs on Tuesday. The Dow eked out a gain, but ended the week slightly lower.

Also, the Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks climbed 16.20 points, or 1%, to 1,591.82.

Q1 GDP was 3.2% topping the consensus economist estimate of 2.5; an increase in exports drove the better-than-expected number.

Referencing the title, “On any given day, economic actors vote by buying and selling shares, and in the short run, the trades happen at the levels dictated by whether the buyers or sellers are more aggressive. That is the voting machine of the market. In the short run, values can be pretty senseless if one side or the other decides to be aggressive in their buying or selling <Ben Graham>.

An indication of what’s to come, BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN) Q1 results delivered better-than-expected earnings and revenues in Q1/19. In spite of the encouraging earnings result, BMRN’s shares closed down -0.26% following the earnings release on Thursday while BMRN’s stock has inched up 0.2% so far this year, underperforming the industry’s increase of 3.3%.

Pre-open post, “TGIF, a dud or a bounce as the week ends while I watch whether BioMarin Pharmaceuticals (BMRN) who beat expectation takes a fall or carries the ball post earning’s release? The week so far, 2 positive and 2 negative closes following a short week with 1 holiday, 1 positive and 3 negative closes.”

The advance/decline line scenario of 45 covered companies:  

• The open was positive with the A/DL at 25/17, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);
• The mid-day was negative with an A/DL of 17/26 and 0 flat and 2 acquired;
• The close was positive with an A/DL of 26/16 and 1 flat and 2 acquired;

My pre-open indications:  5 HITs and 2 MISS

• BioMarin Pharmaceuticals (BMRN) closed down -$0.22 – miss;
• Athersys (ATHX) closed up +$0.08 – miss;
• CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) closed up +$1.46 – hit;
• Editas Medicine (EDIT) closed up +$0.60 – hit;
• Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) closed up +$0.25 – hit;
• ReNeuron holdings (RENE.L) closed up +$48.00 – hit;
• Verastem Oncology (VSTM) closed up +$0.04 – hit;

Cell and gene therapy company’s worst-performers were:

• Friday: ONCE (-$3.51), ALNY (-$0.82), RARE (-$0.28), BMRN (-$0.22) and FATE (-$0.15)
• SAGE (-$0.49), BOLD (-$0.31), MDXG (-$0.26), CLLS (-$0.21) and BMRN (-$0.18) following BSTG (-$0.15)
• Wednesday: BLUE (-$4.06), SAGE (-$2.54), IONS (-$1.99), ALNY (-$1.66) and FIXX (-$1.24)
• MDXG (-$0.06), BLFS (-$0.060, BCXLI (-$0.015) and KOOL (-$0.001)
• Monday: RGNX (-$3.57), ONCE (-$0.37), AXGN (-$0.34), GBT (-$0.33) and QURE (-$0.28)

Sector equities posting gains were:

• Friday: RENE.L (+$48.00), SAGE (+$4.72), BLUE (+$4.10), CRSP (+$1.46) and QURE (+$0.90);
• RENE.L (+$9.00), BLUE (+$2.78), ALNY (+$2.51), QURE (+$1.75) and GBT (+$1.06);
• Wednesday: RENE.L (+$4.50), BLFS (+$0.45), AXGN (+$0.28), STML (+$0.26) and VCEL (+$0.24);
• RENE.L (+$12.00), ALNY (+$4.250, BLUE (+$3.57), GBT (+$2.45) and RARE (+$2.43)
• Monday: CUR (+$0.08), RENE.L (+$6.50), CLBS (+$0.07), BOLD (+$0.83) and ADVM (+$0.12)

Tonight’s percentage (%) indicators: 

• Range of the 26 upside was +0.24% (BCLI) to +18.32% (RENE.L) while the 16 downside ranged from -0.21% (RGNX) to -5.65% (CUR -$0.0288)

Upside volume stats:  review the numbers, there is a message …

• Friday: 5 out of 26 upside had higher than the 3 month average volume
• Thursday: 1 out of 23 upside had higher than the 3 month average volume
• Wednesday: 2 out of 13 upside had higher than the 3 month average volume
• Tuesday: 13 out of 36 upside had higher than the 3 month average volume
• Monday: 1 out of the 20 upside had higher (than the 3 month average) volume

Downside volume stats:

• Friday: 4 out of the 16 downside experienced greater volume than the 3 month average;
• Thursday: 6 out of the 18 downside experienced greater volume than the 3 month average;
• Wednesday: 3 out of the 29 downside experienced greater volume than the 3 month average;
• Tuesday: 1 out of the 4 downside experienced greater volume than the 3 month average;
• Monday: 1 out of the 22 downside experienced greater volume (than the 3 month average)

1 flat – BTX – with 2 acquired (AST & OSIR)

The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB) indicator:

• Friday closed up +0.65%
• Thursday closed up +1.01%
• Wednesday closed down -1.09%;
• Tuesday was down -1.09%;
• Monday was up +0.05%;
• Last Friday was a market holiday

April sessions:

Friday closed POSITIVE with 16 decliners, 26 advancers, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Thursday closed POSITIVE with 18 decliners, 23 advancers, 2 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Wednesday closed NEGATIVE with 29 decliners, 13 advancers, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Tuesday closed POSITIVE with 4 decliners, 36 advancers, 3 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Monday closed NEGATIVE with 22 decliners, 20 advancers, 1 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Friday was a market holiday;

Thursday closed NEGATIVE with 34 decliners, 7 advancers, 2 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Wednesday closed NEGATIVE with36 decliners, 7 advancers, 0 flat and 2 acquired (AST & OSIR);

Tuesday closed POSITIVE with 17 decliners, 23 advancers, 4 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Monday closed NEGATIVE with 29 decliners, 14 advancers, 1 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Friday closed NEGATIVE with 22 decliners, 21 advancers, 1 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Thursday closed NEGATIVE with 32 decliners, 11 advancers, 1 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Wednesday closed POSITIVE with 10 decliners, 33 advancers, 1 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Tuesday closed NEGATIVE with 34 decliners, 9 advancers, 1 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Monday closed NEGATIVE with 24 decliners, 18 advancers, 3 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Friday closed POSITIVE with 12 decliners, 31 advancers, 1 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Thursday closed NEGATIVE with 30 decliners, 14 advancers, 0 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Wednesday closed POSITIVE with 16 decliners, 27 advancers, 1 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Tuesday closed POSITIVE with 11 decliners, 32 advancers, 1 flat and 1 acquired (AST);

Monday (4/1) closed POSITIVE with 19 decliners, 23 advancers, 2 flats and 1 acquired (AST);

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.