Sluggish Early Trading in Biotech Tracks NASDAQ Down 0.14%%
Promising Year for M&A and Tax Cuts Improving Bottom Line
There is a little follow-on to Tuesday’s rally bringing prices for major ETFs above where they were last week. The biotech screen reverted to flat/green where it was on Monday.There were a few big winners that we will have updated later in the day. My sense is that this 36th Annual J.P.Morgan Healthcare Conference is more focused on entrepreneurial activity, partnering and M&A from the badges I have viewed. International participation is very strong. Also commentary from several presenters have mentioned the tax cuts as favorable to their bottom line.
Here are some quick notes from Company presentations that are in the Rayno Biopharma Portfolio:
Abbvie (ABBV) $99.69 has been our top biopharma pick since 2/3/16 at a price of $56.50. The stock is up 3% YTD. Chairman and CEO, Richard A.Gonzalez reiterated the growth strategy driven by $18B in Humira sales and $9.6B from their “de-risked” late stage pipeline growing to $35B by 2025. Financial results over the past 3-5 years shows Abbvie to be #1 or #2 in EPS and Revenue growth. cash flow is 8.5B.The broad late stage pipeline is driven by the acquisition of Pharmacyclics with Imbruvica blockbuster potential for CLL and NHL. For HCV recently approved MAVYRET is making inroads.The portfolio also includes R&D efforts in neuroscience for AD, MS and Parkinsons. New R&D technologies include StemCentRx a platform for stem cell biology to identify novel targets.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) $62 flat, Div. 2.6% Revenue growth is 8% driven by growth of immuno-oncology (I-O) drugs Opdivo and Yervoy along with Eliquis, a leading medicine for treatment of stroke. Opdivo has broad indications for several cancers : NSCLC (first line), Melanoma, bladder, and renal (RCC) with 4 new opportunities coming in 2018. The Company is a leader in I-O and has clinical collaborations and partnerships with many companies (e.g. Exelixis, Incyte, Seattle Genetics)due to its expertise in biomarkers, tumor biology and product portfolio. The Immunoscience portfolio is evolving with small molecules BTK inhibitor and two TYK inhibitors. In the total pipeline are 35 compounds in oncology, fibrotic, immunoscience and Cardiovascular diseases. An LPA antagonist is in Ph.2 for fibrotic disease.
Market Update at close 1/10/18
The market indices came back a tad but biotech stocks reversed at midday to gains:
FBIOX up 0.85%, IBB up 0.45%, XBI up 1.26%.
Rayno Biopharma stocks of note: ABBV down 0.55%, BLUE up 1.45%, BMY up 0.26%, FMI up 2.2%, GILD up 0.78%.
Big winners of the day in our universe: ALKS up 3.65%, ARRY up 3.17%, ESPR up 3.5%, GLYC up 5.87%, SAGE up 3.72%,
Disclosure long ABBV, BMY, FBIOX