I had a great email last night that asked me to compare FMI and ILMN and so today I will go a step further and have a day of rumbles with FMI vs ILMN, CNAT vs GALT, and MRK vs PFE. I would talk a little about the broader market and sector but at this […]
July 28 Biotech Update
Not a great start to the week but the sector seems to be tracking the broader market selloff. I am really of two minds in that there are many reasons to expect the broader market to hit a significant air pocket as it seems pricey by a number of traditional valuation methods (CAPE and so […]
July 28 Biotech Update
Earnings season is off to a good start with both a nice quarter from BIIB and the positive phase III data from PBYI. It is encouraging that good news is being rewarded but the key is going to be how well this spike maintains over the next days and weeks. Given the positive pin action […]
July 11 Biotech Update
Despite a weak macro market, biotechs actually performed pretty well yesterday. That was a surprise albeit a pleasant one. Clearly biotech has its mojo back as three or four months ago, the sector would have been down 5% on a day like yesterday. I have been talking about reactions to earnings as a signal about […]
May 21 Biotech Update- A Little More Drama
It was a quiet day in the market. The sector started off well but it seemed to simply be following the broader market. I still think we are unfortunately tied to the macro and that the next move in the sector will be with the market. It could be that if the move is down […]
May 19 Biotech Update- The Merger Drama
It was certainly an interesting start to the week in terms of the PFE/AZN drama but the price action outside of those names was somewhat muted (I guess also outside the ITMN move). My point is that outside the names directly related to news, there was nothing significant and more of a trending day (with […]
May 6 Biotech Update- The Slow Week Cotinues
It was another pretty blah day in biotech land. I guess this is making up for all the news we have had the past couple of weeks. As I expected, the biggest news of the days is MRK business update (you can download the slides here) and the early verdict is that they are making […]
May 5 Biotech Update
Really not a lot to talk about today. The sector had a decent morning but news flow was relatively low outside of the PFE call. Even that was a little anti-climatic as it did not really add anything that we did not already know. They made the case that an AZN deal does not destroy […]
April 29 Biotech Update- A Day of Steady Progress
The rollercoaster continues as we swing up and down in seemingly ever tighter time frames. In some ways, that seems good in that base building is a messy process with fairly rapid swings. I still think the sector needs the macro environment to be at least neutral in order to really set in a base […]
April 28 Biotech Update- Turning Up the M&A Speculation
It was another interesting and good start to the week (until we got into the usual late morning selling). In fact, it seems like we were just talking about a PFE offer for AZN last Monday (oh, wait we were). Is this the reason that the sector is stronger or are we simply getting an […]
April 21 Biotech Update- Some Good News to Start the Week
You would think the morning after a holiday would not be too busy but I have been running around all morning trying to organize a number of different projects. Luckily there are really only two issues that I wanted to address today as they have import for both individual stocks but also perhaps for the […]
April 7 Biotech Update- An Active AACR
So a lot to talk about and I will briefly touch on a lot and then expand later this week as I doubt many days will be a busy as today in term of news. The sector had a good morning but we have seen this before and at this point it will not be […]
Pfizer – Technical points to watch
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) -NYSE A long awaited date from Pfizer revealed on Sunday April 04, 2014 at the AACR-2014. Pfizer announced detailed results from the PALOMA-1 study, a randomized Phase 2 study of palbociclib in combination with letrozole. PALOMA-1 achieved its primary endpoint by significantly prolonging progression-free survival (PFS) compared with letrozole alone in post-menopausal women with […]
March 31 Biotech Update- Is this the Bounce We are Looking For?
So this seems to be the rally we were looking for but that is assuming it does not fade in the afternoon like every other recent rally attempt. So far the rally is a little more broad based and stronger but we have seen this story before. That being said even if this is the […]
March 10 Biotech Update- Do Not Underestimate CNAT
The sector seems to be searching for a bottom and it is not clear whether this is simply part of that process or a pause before the next leg down. As I noted last week, I will not try to call the bottom but will be a buyer on the large moves down. Whether this […]
Upcoming events for Pfizer
Pfizer (PFE) isn’t traditionally on my watchlist as a name to follow, however, this may be an exception. Palbocicib is likely the most exciting pipeline product in development at Pfizer right now. It received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA in April 2013 for the treatment of breast cancer, following very encouraging Phase 2 results […]
March 7 Biotech Update- Selling Feeding Selling
I am going to spend today talking about the sector in general and send this note out early in light of the significant sell off that started yesterday afternoon and continued this morning. While the bulk of the discussion seemed to center on GILD it should be noted that it was the sector that got […]
Week’s Option Activity (2/20 ~ 3/04)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week(s): $CYTK (2/20): There were two large trades – one bullish and one bearish. (1) Bullish: 2,900 MAY risk reversals were purchased (stock at $9.85) for net 1.10 or total net cost of $319,000 (2,900 MAY 7.50 Strike Puts were sold for 1.90 […]
February 25 Biotech Update- Some Upcoming Catalysts
It is another day with the sector trading basically in line with market and the real outperformers/underperformers have news associated with them. At this point the real tension in the sector is between the clear continuation of the rally and the fear/expectation of a larger macro correction that will take the sector down with it. […]
February 17 Biotech Update- A Presidents Day Bonus
The market is obviously closed today but I wanted to have a brief note because I am not sure I will have time to write anything significant tomorrow. 1. One question that has been in the back of my mind is M&A. I keep expecting to see more as BMY, GILD, PFE, and others have […]
