BIOTECH STOCK SPLITS: Alexion’s First Split (ALXN)
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) is about to see its first corporate and investor event tomorrow of this kind. August 13 will be the EX-DATE for its 2-for-1 stock split which was announced back on July 29.
What is sort of odd is that this stock reached $100 briefly during the summer months way back in 2000 during the NASDAQ bubble days and it did not split then. It then traded as low as $10.00 by late-2002. When this came public in 1996 it was less than a $10.00 stock.
Alexion’s stock has done well as this was in the mid-$70’s in mid-July and shares put in a new 52-week and multi-year high just yesterday with shares briefly trading above $95.00. Shares are down almost 2% on light volume at 10:00 AM EST at $93.25. It isn’t happening with any conviction, but it looks like there is light profit taking with low interest from market makers this morning ahead of tomorrow’s effective split.
2007 marked the entry stage for Alexion’s revenue generation when it posted $72 million in revenues. Analysts are looking for 2008 revenues of about $247.3 million and 2009 revenues of about $382 million. 2008 is expected to be modestly profitable but analysts are looking for profits above $1.50 EPS in 2009.
The company markets Soliris (eculizumab) for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare and life-threatening blood disorder in the United States and Europe. The company is evaluating expanded uses and is also involved in several other various studies of unrelated treatments such as cancer vaccines, age-related macular degeneration, myasthenia gravis and multi-focal motor neuropathy, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, multiple myeloma, and asthma.
Its market cap today is $3.6 Billion and it is sometimes rather active in stock options. Alexion’s 52-week trading range is $49.26 to $95.27, which after today will read as an adjusted $24.63 to $47.635.
JON OGG
August 12, 2008