A Biopharma Stock We Missed-Pharmacyclics (PCYC $38.21) up 9.89% today

It is unbelievable that we missed the huge move in PCYC up 157% YTD with a one year range of 7.63 to 38.56. The market cap is $2.63B.

The Company has a robust pipeline of products led by Ibrutinib, a Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor for oncology with Phase II products for leukemia and lymphoma. On June 4th Company released data on PCI-32765 from three trials for treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).Response rates were positive with progression free survival.

On June 1 a Seeking Alpha article by James Stocklasar Thomas Jr. provided a good review and a technical analysis of PCYC stock.He thinks the stock is overextended and sees a buy in the $27 range. I did a quick review and noted that none of the major ETFs and biotech funds have it as a top ten holding. Top holders are Baker Brothers,  Cap World and Prime Cap.  Brian Skorney an analyst with Brean Murray issued a buy on the stock today with a target of $80 based on the drug ibrutinib for blood cancers.”The impressive efficacy is matched by an equally impressive safety profile that makes ibrutinib an ideal backbone across multiple treatment regimens and lines of therapy,” the analyst wrote in a note.

Aggressive biotech traders might look at a paired trade of long PCYC , short MDVN as the market cap of MDVN is comparable at $3.13B but PCYC has a broader pipeline. PCYC has $213M in cash ($145M SE) compared to $380M in cash ($80M SE)  for Medivation.

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Biotechs: Limited Boost From ASCO But Sector  Is Tracking NASDAQ

Caution Still Warranted Due To Economic Concerns

The Rayno Biopharmaceutical Portfolio had a good week and overall the biotech sector recovered from Fridays’ very bad day. But the sector is still 5% below late April highs. We already commented earlier this week on the hot ADC technology from Immunogen (IMGN $15 ) and Seattle Genetics (SGEN $22 ) both on our focus list. With NASDAQ up 2.4% today you could expect the large cap and ASCO news tagged stocks would follow and indeed the IBB (IBB $123.46) was up 1.76% and the XBI ($81.23) up 1.59%.The QQQs ($62.52) did  a little better today up 2.29%. Over five days the QQQ beat IBB by about 0.65%. Most of our big winners YTD recovered from last week losses like Cubist (CBST), Biogen (BIIB) and Regeneron (REGN).

We mentioned Celldex Therapeutics Monday (CLDX $4.42) up 4.49% today as an interesting speculative play also based on ADC technology called Precison Targeted Immunotherapy (PTI) with a pipeline of seven drugs for treating cancer . PTI utilizes monoclonal antibodies to target dendritic cells and macrophages. The shares have a range of $2.05 to $5.66 and the current market cap is $253M with a cash position of $54M. We have not added the stock to our focus list but it is under review for an entry point and upcoming milestones. Institutional ownership is 46%.

Exelixis (EXEL $4.86) up 5.4% was a winner over 5 days and today announced positive interim data from their Phase 2 prostate cancer drug Cabozantinib. The data showed positive effects in bone and soft tissue diseases and reduce pain requirements.EXEL is  a former high flier that soared to the $12 level, but is still up since we recommended it at $3.30 more than two years ago.

High flier Medivation (MDVN $86.81) soared today on low volume but is still below highs from last Thursday when high volume dump occurred. The stock has beens selling off on higher volumes.

Until we get new information the intermediate top is in for the biotechnology sector although the bull market is intact.

Here is the Rayno Biopharma Portfolio as reviewed on March 30 before the April rally and May correction.

 

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