December 13, 2021 8:10am

Pre-open indications: 6 BUYs and 3 SELLs

News: Editas Medicine (EDIT +$1.89 pre-open); bluebird bio (BLUE +$0.79 pre-open); Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO +$0.03 pre-open); Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA +$1.05) - <read more>

If you’re looking for sector intel, ideas and facts or Insight in a volatile climate, RMi defines the extenuating factors of share pricing! I follow the dictum, quoting Churchill that “short words are best, and the old words when short are best of all.”

Remember that overnight and pre-open actions in futures don't necessarily translate into actual trading in the coming day’s session.

Dow futures are UP +0.04% (+15 points), S&P futures are UP +0.22% (+10 points) and NASDAQ futures are UP +0.40% (+67 points)

 

U.S. stock futures are trading slightly higher early Monday,

European markets were trading to the upside even though Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a “tidal wave” of Covid cases as a result of omicron,

Asia Pacific markets jumped as traders overcame fears about the transmissibility and severity of the new omicron Covid variant.

 

Economic Data docket: Members of the Federal Open Market Committee are set to hold their two-day policy-setting meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, after which they will release their monetary policy statement and hold a press conference with Fed Chair Powell.

  • The December statement will also be accompanied by an updated Summary of Economic Projections — the first since September — outlining members' expectations for economic conditions and interest rates over the next few years. <Yahoo Finance>
  • Many economists now expect that this month's meeting will serve as the platform for Fed officials to increase the rate of tapering of their asset-purchase program.

 

Henry’omics:

The Dow gained 4%, the S&P 500 jumped +3.8% while the Nasdaq jumped 3.6%, last week.

The omicron Covid variant was a potential wild card at the start of the month, but there's a growing consensus that it's not a game changer. With inflation at a 39-year high of 6.8% and initial jobless claims at the lowest since 1969, Fed chief Jerome Powell and several of his colleagues are taking a more-hawkish tone. (IBD).

NOTE: Moderna (MRNA) shares were among the strongest gainers premarket Monday, rising 2.4% a day after the White House’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci called Covid booster shots “optimal care,” but said the definition of fully vaccinated would not change.

 

News:

  • Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA +$1.05) announced that the first patient has been dosed with NTLA-2002, the company’s in vivo CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing candidate being developed as a single-dose therapy to prevent attacks in people living with hereditary angioedema (HAE). NTLA-2002 is a systemically administered therapy designed to inactivate the target gene kallikrein B1 (KLKB1) to reduce plasma kallikrein activity and thus prevent HAE attacks.
  • Editas Medicine (EDIT +$0.10 pre-open) reported in vitro and in vivo preclinical data on the enhanced tumor killing capacity of two modified induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived natural killer (or iNK) cell therapies using its proprietary AsCas12a gene editing.
  • bluebird bio (BLUE +$0.79 pre-open) announced updated results from its P1/2 HGB-206 study of lovotibeglogene autotemcel (lovo-cel; formerly LentiGlobin® for SCD, bb1111) gene therapy for sickle cell disease, including further analyses from its pivotal cohort, HGB-206 Group C, following enhancements to the manufacturing protocols and treatment process. In addition to continued complete resolution of severe vaso-occlusive events (VOEs), patients in Group C achieved near normal levels of key hemolysis markers and experienced sustained improvements in patient-reported quality of life following treatment.
  • Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO +$0.03 pre-open) updated follow-up data from the P1/2 Alta study of giroctocogene fitelparvovec, an investigational gene therapy for patients with moderately severe to severe hemophilia A.

 

If you didn’t remember what happen at Friday night’s close, you won’t be prepared for today’s session:

Friday’s evening’s recap: “sector slips after yesterday’s fall” …  https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/12221

Q4: December, 4 negative and 4 positive closes

  • November, 1 holiday 5 positive and 16 negative close to date
  • October, 8 positive and 13 negative closes

 

Companies in my headlights – It’s your decision; I provide an idea and context:

Maintaining SELL:

Biostage (OTCQB: BSTG) Friday closed up +$0.20 with 9,669 shares traded after Thursday closed $0.00 with 26 shares traded following Wednesday closed flat with 520 shares traded, Tuesday dropped -$0.20 with 2,980 shares traded after Monday closed up with 6,466 shares traded.

  • What’s “scary” is a $71.1 m deficit without a clinical trial following an IND approval which is 1 and ¾ year old; have they filed an annual report to the FDA
  • BSTG continues as a “going concern” which also REQUIRES additional funding for future operations.
  • BIG question, are they going to have to “restate” their financials for the past wo (2) years?
  • What is BSTG’s future after the rejection of the insurance claim for the terminal death suit which also entails the indemnification of Harvard Bioscience (HBIO)?
  • Another question, “Without the insurance, BSTG has to “front” the legal fees to fight the opposition lawyers who were not given the discovery documents requested resulting in a court sanction (which was later reversed).
  • The real question … what if they lose, WILL there be an issue of personal liability for those who run the company and for HBIO?

 

Probabilities versus aftermarket/pre-open share pricing indication moves:

SELL:

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) closed up +$1.18 to $173.65 after Thursday’s $172.47, Wednesday’s $176.92, Tuesday’s $180.28 and last Monday’s $177.00 with a negative -$4.10 or -2.36% aftermarket (Friday) indication.

CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) closed down -$1.83 to $73.63 and has a negative -$0.08 or -0.11% pre-open market indication.

BUY:

Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) closed up +$1.96 to $114.01 with a positive +$1.05 or +0.92% pre-open indication and news (above).

bluebird bio (BLUE) closed down -$0.42 to $8.96 with news (above) and a positive +$0.79 or +$8.82% aftermarket (Friday) indication.

Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) closed down -$1.36 to $27.59 with a positive +$0.11 or +0.40% aftermarket (Friday) indication.

Editas Medicine (EDIT) closed down -$1.52 to $29.01 with news and a positive +$1.89 or +6.51% pre-market indication.

Regenxbio (RGNX) closed up +$0.44 to $32.02 with a positive +$6.58 or +20.55% aftermarket (Friday) indication

Verastem (VSTM) closed down -$0.10 to $2.34 and has a positive +$0.06 or +2.56% aftermarket (Friday) indication.

 

 

The BOTTOM LINE: A sector rally attempt got underway last Monday through Wednesday with strong gains, but then got “shot-gunned” Thursday and Friday.

New week after a mixed week of closed (2 negative and 3 positive closes) and the IBB dropped -0.55% and the XBI -3.62%.

investors should be cautious about making new buys. I’d take a shot at a few …?

From my “early” days, I “was learned” to “watch my corners” – one never knew what could be coming at you!

Let’s NOT forget that the stem, cell and gene therapy sector has been showing more than some strain for many weeks.

I don’t believe the market and sector conditions are favorable in the very short-term. The risk of market-shaking headlines is very high, at least until there's greater understanding of the omicron variant, and what that might mean for the economy.

Investors should consider taking further profits in winners, slashing strength gains, don’t sell into losses, they seem to bounce after depression.

The year is ending, take a more-defensive approach, cutting back exposure.

I’m STILL a “beware or the cautious man” whose focus has always been “warning analysis”.

RMi’s daily report is a primer that may say little or a lot; yet it serves as insurance that all indications are being examined and evaluated.

WHY do I keep reporting on Biostage (BSTG): When one sees an inextricable wrong and morally repulsive scenario; it takes courage, resolve and patience to stay the course of asking the questions without response!

 

 

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.

Regulation Analyst Certification (Reg AC): The research analyst primarily responsible for the content of this report certifies the following under Reg AC: I hereby certify that all views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject company or companies and its or their securities. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.

Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors does not hold or have positions in securities referred to in this publication.