Carl Icahn Narrows BioHealth Focus (AMLN, BIIB, ENZN, CYBX, EXEL, FRX, GENZ, REGN)
Carl Icahn, via his Icahn Capital LP and other entities owned the following drug and biotech or biohealth names. There may be some overlaps because of more than 1 filing, but here goes:
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) 12,971,328 shares;
Biogen Idec Corp. (NASDAQ: BIIB) 3,215,051 shares, second filing showed 12,860,205 shares;
Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ENZN) 704,214 shares;
Cyberonics Inc. (NASDAQ: CYBX) 2,107,972 shares;
Exelixis Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL) 2,357,110 shares;
Forest Labs (NYSE: FRX) 1,000,000 shares
Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ) 1,450,800 shares;
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) 2,508,001 shares.
Two smaller positions were omitted.
This is not the smallest amount he has held in biotechs and biohealth plays, but the focus looks narrower than in the past when there were more positions.
JON C. OGG
Regeneron (REGN) Good Fortune
Sanofi-Aventis and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) said they expanded an existing development partnership to run through 2017. The previous arrangement ended in 2012.
Under the expanded deal, the companies plan on advancing up to five antibodies into clinical development each year, with Sanofi-Aventis funding up to $160 million annually for Regeneron research until the end of 2017 — up from prior funding levels of $100 million annually.
Regeneron’s shares are up 17% to $18.58 giving the company a market cap of $1.5 billion.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Sepracor: A Thought Of A Higher Price… (SEPR, CBST, ONXX, GERN, VNDA, REGN, SGEN, ALNY)
It is common that when mergers are announced that some shareholders are either unsatisfied or want more. Sepracor Inc. (NASDAQ: SEPR) and its proposed $2.6 billion sale to Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. might not be enough to satisfy everyone involved in the shareholder side of the deal. That is the case if you read a Bloomberg report from Tuesday night and this could be the first of many such suits.
It appears that the allegations are that the terms of the merger are detrimental to shareholders because of a break-up fee and shopping provisions. This is an effort either to block the merger or to secure a higher price and better terms. So here is how the $23.00 stacks up… It was a 27.6% premium to the September 1 price, but was a 48% premium to the 6-month average.
This deal does make-whole anyone who bought shares over the last year. But it comes with a huge hit for many investors who have been in it for the long-term. From the end of 2004 to mid-2007 this was generally a $40 to $60 stock. Then it was a $30 stock and the stock was in the low $20’s to $30 for most of the period from mid-2007 to mid-2008.
If you look at the deal on a valuation basis, it seems very cheap. The Thomson Reuters figures for 2010 are $2.91 EPS and $1.26 billion in revenues for 2009 and $2.99 EPS and $1.31 billion in revenues for 2010. In short, The company is selling for less than 8-times a blended earnings estimate and just over 2-times revenues for a blended time horizon.
Any time a merger is seemingly based upon a 52-week high, it is hard to feel too sorry for investors. At least until you start looking at the multiple of earnings being so low. We screened recently for all of the low P/E stocks in drug and biotech and there are still many other low P/E multiples in there.
We also are putting together another piece right now containing the following stocks as merger candidate discussions:
- Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST)
- Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX)
- Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN)
- Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA)
- Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN)
- Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN)
- Alnylam (NASDAQ: ALNY)
JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 9, 2009
More Biotech/Drug Mergers Coming? (SEPR, CBST, ONXX, GERN, VNDA, REGN, SGEN, ALNY)
This week came a merger of at least one of the drug and biotech players we expected to occur. That was in Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR). We will be putting together a list of much more detailed picks in teh sector this coming week.
Some of these are our own picks which we think should be acquired, and some are current biotech-drug targets which others feel are on deck. To see the full deal on how this related, BioMedReports.com has a full breakdown on teh Spreacor terms and we used this for determining value on some of our other picks….
Among the picks being presented in detail next week are as follows:
Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST)
Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX)
Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN)
Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA)
Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN)
Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN)
Alnylam (NASDAQ: ALNY)
Have a great weekend and stay tuned for the full details on these and others next week.
JON C. OGG
SEPT. 4, 2009
Biotech Short Selling Positions (XBI)(VRTX)(UTHR)(REGN)(MATK)(GENZ)(CBST)(BMRN)(BIIB)(ALNY)(AMGN)
There were some major moves in the short positions in major biotechs for the period ending August 11.
Amgen (AMGN) short interest was flat at 21 mllion shares.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) share short rose 2% to 5.8 million.
Biogen Idec (BIIB) short interest dropped a fraction to 9.1 million.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN) shares short dropped 6% to 11.7 million.
Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST) short interest dropped 8% to 4.8 million.
Genzyme Corporation (GENZ) share sold short fell 5% to 5.7 million.
Martek Biosciences (MATK) shares short rose 2% to 4.2 million.
The short interest in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) rose 9% to 5.9 million.
United Therapeutics (UTHR) shares sold short moved down 10% to 3.1 million.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) shares short dropped 2% to 18.1 million
These ten stocks are the top holding of the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI)
Data from NYSE and Nasdaq
Douglas A. McIntyre
Bill Gates, Small Biotech's New Biggest Investor (ALTH, AMAG, RDEA, ARYX, AUXL, BMRN, ETRM, INCY, ITMN, MAPP, OREX, VRUS, REGN, SGEN, VRTX, XNPT)
Late yesterday came the 13-F quarterly filing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Bill and Melinda have invested in drugs and research before, as well as dug companies, but there was a slew of biotech stocks in their quarterly holdings. Some of these are cancer winners, while others may seem random. Below we have broken these out by company and size of the position in dollars (M for million; K for thousand) as well as the number of shares.
ALLOS THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: ALTH) $3.090M; 500,000 shares
AMAG PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: AMAG) $1.839M; 50,000 shares
ARDEA BIOSCIENCES INC. (NASDAQ: RDEA) $2.165M; 210,386 shares
ARYX THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: ARYX) $1.635M; 480,799 shares
AUXILIUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: AUXL) $2.062M; 74,400 shares
BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICAL INC. (NASDAQ: BMRN) $1.295M; 104,856 shares
ENTEROMEDICS INC. (NASDAQ: ETRM) $81K; 59,700 shares
INCYTE CORP. (NASDAQ: INCY) $1.02M; 435,700 shares
INTERMUNE INC. (NASDAQ: ITMN) $1.807M; 109,900 shares
MAP PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: MAPP) $98K; 46,524 shares
OREXIGEN THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: OREX) $36K; 13,900 shares
PHARMASSET INC. (NASDAQ: VRUS) $821K; 83,641 shares
REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS (NASDAQ: REGN) $492K; 35,500 shares
SEATTLE GENETICS INC. (NASDAQ: SGEN) $34.718M; 3,521,088 shares
VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: VRTX) $2.729M; 95,000 shares
XENOPORT INC. (NASDAQ: XNPT) $2.517M; 130,000 shares
Carl Icahn Still Active in BioHealth Stocks (ANX, FOLD, AMLN, BIIB, CYBX, EMIS, ENZN, REGN, TELK)
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn showed his biotech and medical holdings yesterday, with the ownership filing date as of June 30, 2008. Here is a snapshot of his filed holdings:
- Adventrx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMEX: ANX)3.459 million shares, small position for Icahn
- Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOLD) 201,940 shares, small stake and small interest
- Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) 6.787 million shares
- Applera Corp
- Biogen-Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) 9.948 million shares, which has actually been added to since that date
- Cyberonics (NASDAQ: CYBX) 2.008 million shares
- Emisphere Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: EMIS) 86,430 shares, tiny position for Icahn
- Enzon Pharma (NASDAQ: ENZN) 2.457 million shares
- Regeneron Pharma (NASDAQ: REGN) 2.508 million shares
- Telik Inc. (NASDAQ: TELK) 4.156 million shares
Jon C. Ogg
August 15, 2008
Latest from 247Wallst.com- BioHealth Business Daily (APPA, GENZ, GENT, MRK, OSIP, OXGN, SOMX, THRX, CLDX)
- Google’s New TV Innovation
- Waves and Waves of Secondary Pricings (CVGI, CPA, G, HIG, HRP, NLST, SB, TSL)
- Today’s Best Markte Rumors (3/19/2010)
- Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BBY, CPSI, DTV, HAL, PALM, RIMM, SLB, SPLS, SYNA, WFT)
- Latest from VSInvestor
