November 10, 2015 6:37am

 

After all the troubles and issues of the past, OCAT has hit early-stage success with a potential cure for a disease that causes blindness and now it has a $379 M acquisition offer on the table.

 

Henry’s “6” Tuesday trading picks. Subscription required: http://www.regmedinvestors.com/user/register

 

 

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DOW futures are DOWN -0.4% and NASDAQ futures are DOWN -0.9%

 

U.S. stock index futures are pointed to drop even lower  early on Tuesday, following Asian and European shares downwards, after a weak close on Monday.

European equities were trading slightly lower, following the down-trend in Asia and the U.S. overnight.

Asian shares mostly retreated, tracking a sell-off in offshore equity markets, as a fresh batch of Chinese data added to the uncertainty from a looming interest-rate hike in the U.S.

 

Data docket: Tuesday isn’t due to provide a barrage of top-tier U.S. economic news, unlike other recent sessions that have been packed with notable releases. A reading on small-business optimism is slated to come out at 6 a.m. ET, followed by fresh figures for import prices at 8:30 a.m. ET and for wholesale inventories at 10 a.m. ET.  After the market’s close, Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans is due to take part in a panel discussion in the Windy City about the U.S. government’s debt. The event begins at 5.15 p.m. ET.

 

 

The RegMed sector closed POSITIVE on Monday and Friday, NEGATIVE on Thursday, POSITIVE on Wednesday and last Tuesday.

Monday closed POSITIVE on Monday with 15 decliners, 26 advancers and 2 flats following Friday’s POSITIVE close with 14 decliners, 27 advancers and 2 flat;

 

 

Breaking News:

Japanese drug maker Astellas Pharma announced late Monday night that it’s offering $8.50 per share in cash to buy Ocata Therapeutics (OCAT), a company that attracted worldwide attention just over a year ago for the publication of its research in the medical journal The Lancet.

  • The price is 79% higher than OCAT’s share price as of Friday’s close;
  • OCAT had closed on Monday -$0.29 to $4.46

 

Astellas hopes to complete the acquisition over the next month or so. The directors of both Astellas and Ocata have approved the agreement, but it still needs to be approved by OCAT’s shareholders. That approval is by no means guaranteed, as longtime shareholders of Ocata have seen the value of their shares decimated over the years due to several factors and may want an even higher price.

 

 

The sector in an hour, a day, a week, a month to the end of the year – divergence will continue.

  • The “equity” risk premium is usually a statistic without a good standing or showing!

I think the performance of the stem, cell and gene therapy and RegMed stocks over the short time will be lackluster; risks and the coming period of tax selling will just not guaranteed pricing or appreciation to deliver.

 

 

Tuesday’s --- trading indications, stocks to watch:

  • Asterias (NYSEMKT: AST) closed DOWN -$0.12 to $5.16 after reporting <11/9> a Q3/15 net loss of -$3.5 M or -$0.09 per share with $12.6 M in cash AST closed -$0.12 to $5.16 and is up +$0.24 or +4.65% to $5.40 in the aftermarket – Maintaining BUY;
  • bluebird bio (BLUE) closed UP +$2.45 to $76.09. Speculators will “nibble” on the edges of appreciation   BLUE’s aftermarket reflects a slow climb DOWN -$1.04 in the aftermarket – BUY to SELL; 
  • Cellectis S.A.  ADR (CLLS) closed UP +$2.13 to $40.01 on Monday. CLLS reported success in sending a one-year-old baby's incurable leukemia into remission with an "off-the-shelf" gene editing immunotherapy treatment. CLLS treated the girl by infusing her with genetically edited cells at a hospital in Britain. Two months later, she was free of the cancer that had been so aggressive doctors thought she would surely die.  Healthy donor cells were used for the girl's treatment, and that could be the key to someday mass-producing the treatment for off-the-shelf use. Tailoring treatments to each individual patient costs a lot more money, and that's a hurdle “others” will need to address as they approach commercialization. Off-the-shelf treatments help bring down manufacturing costs.  CLLS is UP +$0.65 or +1.54% to $42.79 in the aftermarket – Maintaining BUY;
  • Intrexon (XON) closed UP +$0.78 to $39.78. BUT after financial results – reporting <11/9> a net loss of $38.2 M or -$0.34 per share and $352.6 M in cash. The after-market denotes a drop of -$0.28 or -0.70%.  Time to flip/trade – SELL;
  • Organovo (ONVO) closed DOWN -$0.06 to $3.23 after reporting <11/9> a Q2/16 net loss of -$11.3 M or -$0.12 per share with $76.9 M in cash. ONVO is down -$0.08 or -2.59% to $3.23 in the aftermarket – SELL;
  • Verastem (VSTM) closed Flat at $2.13 with only 581.1 K shares traded <3 month average = 1.014 M shares> after reporting <11/9> a Q3/15 net loss of -$15.54 M or -$0.42 per share with $120.5 M in cash. Maintaining BUY;

 

 

 

The information included above as well as individual companies and/or securities mentioned should be construed as guidance in RMi reviews.

The facts stated and the opinions given in this publication are based on data and information considered to be reliable and have been carefully worked into my qualitative analyses and prognoses. However, no guarantee can be given as to their fairness, accuracy or completeness.

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