When Barron’s Runs BioHealth Stocks (CEPH, AXL, ISRG)
Today we are seeing two stocks higher after Barron’s featured these over the weekend in what traders call “The Weekly Bible” in the business.
Cephalon (NASDAQ: CEPH) is trading up slightly after Barron’s covered its promiosing pipleline. With two new products on the market and one more in 2009, Barron’s thesis was that shares are not having the same problems as other bigger drug stocks and that shareholders should be sleeping easily here. Shares are only up 0.5% at $77.37, but it is a larger company with a market cap of more than $5 Billion.
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AUXL) is seeing a sharp 5% gain today after Barron’s talked up its Testin product, a testosterone gel used by men to live more energetic lives. Barron’s noted that the Xiaflex drug for a hand treatment in the hundreds of thousands could have blockbuster status by 2011 after launching in 2009.
Barron’s can definitely make your biotech or drug stock rise when they cover it. But remember that the axe swings both ways. Back on July 28, 2008, shares of Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) took almost a $14.00 haircut after the Barron’s cover story called the company overvalued.
Jon C. Ogg
August 11, 2008