Shares In Amylin Plunge, Options Players Prep For A Rebound
by Option Review - November 8th, 2011 1:29 pm
Today’s tickers: AMLN, XLNX, DF & NTGR
AMLN - Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Shares in the biopharmaceutical company plunged 18.1% to an intraday low of $8.95 on Tuesday on news the company ended its diabetes partnership with drug maker, Eli Lilly & Co. Options activity on Amylin Pharmaceuticals, however, suggests some strategists see the selloff as overdone, with a number of investors stepping up today to position for the price of the underlying to rebound. Near-term bulls snapped up more than 1,650 calls at the Nov. $11 strike for a premium of $0.22 apiece. Buyers of the call options profit at expiration if shares in AMLN surge 21.4% over the current traded price of $9.24 (as of 11:50 am in New York), to surpass the average breakeven price of $11.22. Optimism for an AMLN-recovery story spread to the Dec. $10 strike, where more than 5,600 call options changed hands against open interest of 270 contracts. It looks like one investor purchased the majority of these calls for an average premium of $0.85 a-pop. The strategist profits at expiration next month in the event that Amylin’s shares increase 17.4% to trade above $10.85. Longer-dated contracts are the most active in terms of volume on the drug maker so far today. One trader appears to have purchased a 5,000-lot April 2012 $10/$15 call spread for a net premium of $1.30 per contract. The call-spreader may reel in profits of up to $3.70 per contract on the position if AMLN’s shares jump 62.3% to exceed $15.00 by April expiration day. Meanwhile, the sale of 9,000 puts for a premium of $0.63 per contract at the April 2012 $6.0 strike suggests at least one investor expects the price of the underlying to exceed that level through expiration next year. The trader walks away with the premium in hand as long as the put options expire worthless at April expiration day. We note that while much of the activity in Amylin options is likely bullish, the stock was not exclusively populated with bullish players. Some of the volume generated in April 2012 contract calls looks to have been sold by traders betting against the likelihood of steep double-digit gains the shares. Additionally, light put buying the front month indicates other investors are prepared to see the stock pull back further ahead of November expiration. Options implied volatility on AMLN is up 46.7% at 85.0% just after midday…
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DiggThe Calm Before the Storm – Big Pharma Is Gonna Have Big Problems and Pfizer is the BIGGEST
by ilene - March 24th, 2010 2:01 pm
Second coming of the calm before the storm; fear not, there’s time to find shelter. - Ilene
The Calm Before the Storm – Big Pharma Is Gonna Have Big Problems and Pfizer is the BIGGEST
Courtesy of Pharmboy, member of Phil’s Stock World
This is a brief article of where the pharmaceutical industry has been, and where it could be headed in the near future. In contrast to past articles where I focused on the pipelines of GSK, LLY, MRK, BMY and ‘biotechs’ GENZ, GILD, and others, this is a summary of the industry. The overall market continues its grind up and I am gun-shy of its continued direction, but with the passage of the health care bill, biotechs that serve niche markets will be well positioned to see a rise both in stock price and potential M&A activity. In addition, as noted on Friday, March 19th on the laggers/leaders of the past month or so, Telecom and Healthcare were at the bottom of the pile. For the review of Big Pharma and some biotech picks at the end, generic companies are excluded from most data (Merck KGaA, Mylan, Teva and Watson).
From 2002 to 2009, the top pharmaceutical companies by sales had growth rates greater than 12% (compounded annually). Unfortunately, this growth is not sustainable and should move towards flat to nominal growth by 2014. The growth decline will challenge these companies to seek more profitable routes, including licensing and acquisitions. Picking the right companies based upon the science is at the forefront of good investing. Not they will all succeed because the science is sound, but understanding the molecule, target, and the disease helps guide smart decisions. Good management helps as well!
Let’s start with a summary of potential acquirers. Table 1 is a list of the 15 largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies ranked by healthcare revenue. Some companies (e.g., Bayer and Johnson) have additional revenue which is not included the sales data.
Table 1. Top 13 Pharma Companies in Sales (2009)
|
Rank |
Company |
Sales ($M) |
Based/Headquartered in |
|
1 |
Pfizer |
50,001 |
US |
|
2 |
Hoffmann–La Roche |
46,300* |
Switzerland |
|
3 |
Merck & Co. |
45,930** |
US |
|
4 |
…
Weekend Wrap-Up, Still Trying to Get Bullish
by Phil - March 14th, 2010 5:20 am
I’m having writer’s block this weekend.
Usually when I can’t think of what to write it helps me to go over our virtual portfolios so I started this morning reviewing the Buy List but I didn’t get far because it was silly. Of 43 plays on the buy list, 39 are doing well – too well in fact to the point where it’s hard for me, in good conscience, not to say let’s kill the whole thing and get back to cash as we’re up about 20% in 2 months and that’s just ridiculous – most people would call that a good year and go on vacation.
The Buy List was 100% bullish and we did catch a good bottom on our early February entries. I was gung ho bullish then because I felt comfortable that the 10,000 line on the Dow would prevail and that we were good for a run back to the top (10,700), following, more or less, the pattern we had in 2004 (see original post for charts). Well that’s pretty much what’s happened since then but that’s not making me happy because I see no reason we won’t complete that pattern and begin falling off a cliff shortly.
As you all know, I’m not a big fan of TA, or patterns for that matter but the reason I started looking for patterns was to try to get a handle on how long market could really keep going up before falling victim to exhaustion. To me it seemed we weren’t at that point on Feb 6th but now that we’ve put in that big push back up – if we can’t punch up to new highs on all our indexes then I do think it’s time for the markets to take a break.
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Clearly I’ve been too bearish for the past couple of weeks and we are now 224 points over 10,400 on the Dow which is where I turned bearish as the January data made me lose faith in our ability to get back to 10,700. I should have stuck to the TA because we’re a lot closer to 10,700 than we are to 10,400. With the Russell and Nasdaq exploding to their own new highs. You can see though, from the above chart, why I do want to wait to see the NYSE, Dow and S&P confirm this move up – it’s not far now!…
Goldman-Bulls Foresee Greener Pastures by July
by Option Review - January 26th, 2010 5:59 pm
Today’s tickers: GS, AMLN, LYV, KFT, PM, IYR, MAS, VMW, BKS & CAL
GS – Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – Option traders assumed medium- and long-term bullish stances on the global investment banking and management firm today to position for a rebound in shares in the next six to twelve months. Shares edged 1.65% lower during the session to stand at $152.43 as of 2:45 pm (EDT). One optimistic individual sold 2,500 put options for a premium of $8.90 apiece at the July $140 strike in order to finance the purchase of 2,500 calls at the higher July $175 strike for about $6.10 each. The trader receives a net credit of $2.80 per contract on the risk reversal play, and keeps the full amount as long as Goldman’s shares trade above $140.00 through expiration in July. Additional profits amass if the stock price jumps 15% over the current price to surpass the $175.00-level by expiration. Longer-term optimism appeared in the January 2011 contract where another Goldman-bull purchased a call spread. The investor bought approximately 2,300 call options at the January 2011 $160 strike for an average premium of $17.38 apiece, and sold the same number of calls at the higher January 2011 $195 strike for about $6.50 each. The net cost of the spread amounts to $10.88 per contract. Maximum potential profits of $24.12 per contract accumulate if Goldman’s shares surge 28% from the current price to $195.00 by expiration next January.
AMLN – Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Shares of biopharmaceutical company, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, are up more than 11% to a new 52-week high of $19.39 in afternoon trading. The stock opened the session even higher at $19.97 on “optimism that the company’s new version of diabetes treatment Byetta will be approved following U.S. regulators’ clearance of a similar drug”, according to an earlier report by Elizabth Lopatto at Bloomberg. Option traders initiated bullish plays on the stock to position for upward movement in AMLN shares, which is likely to occur if the Food & Drug Administration approves the once-weekly version of Byetta, known as Byetta LAR. One investor established a bullish risk reversal by selling 10,000 puts at the February $17.5 strike for a premium of $0.50 each, spread against the purchase of 10,000 calls at the higher February $20 strike for $0.80 apiece. The net cost of the reversal amounts to $0.30 per contract and positions the trader…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
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