On Tuesday, health benefits company WellPoint, Inc. (WLP
The company reported in its SEC filing that it has maintained its FY2013 EPS estimate of at least $7.89 per share. This estimate includes net costs of 11 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, WLP expects to see EPS of at least $8.00 per share.
On average, analysts expect to see earnings of $8.26 per share for the full year.
WellPoint shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading Tuesday. The stock is up 42% YTD.
Merrill Edge says it has expanded its mass-affluent platform to include an ETF trading tool, and plans for more portfolio tools are in the works. Clients can trade ETFs online for $6.96, with 30 free online trades per month for some qualifying investors.
“This is part of our goal for Merrill Edge and especially for self-directed clients: Help them build portfolios with our capabilities around a selected list of ETFs and funds to choose from confidently and for good performance,” said Alok Prasad, head of Merrill Edge, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor.
Bank of America (BAC) launched Merrill Edge three years ago. The program now has about 1.6 million clients; some are self-directed investors, while others work with Merrill Edge advisors, mainly by phone.
The ETF platform was launched in late August. It includes 61 products from Vanguard, iShares, State Street and other industry leaders, organized into five broad categories and 21 subcategories. Clients can select ETFs and work to rebalance their portfolio with these products in conjunction with Merrill Edge’s Asset Allocator Tool.
“It takes them through the process from start to finish,” explained Prasad.
When picking the 61 ETFs for the platform, Merrill looked as assets under management, since the larger funds have greater liquidity and better pricing, according to Paul Riley, managing director of Merrill Edge Product Solutions.
Tracking error, expense-ratio measures and bid-ask ratio spreads were also examined. “This way, we could get the highest liquidity and lowest cost in each category … ” Riley said, “and end up with a best-in-class group that’s unbiased in terms of the sponsor firms.”
Next Steps
Merrill Edge, which aims to attract as many Gen X and Gen Y clients as possible, will keep pushing out more online products, tools and information “to meet the goals of these investors,” Prasad said. “The demand is there.”
What’s likely to be the next Merrill Edge tool? “We are working on ideas for each of the asset classes, beyond mutual funds and ETFs,” he said. “We need to work with our Investment Management Group on the right protocols and framework to have the best in class, which gets harder in harder with alternative investments.”
Still, the Merrill Edge executive says, the group “just needs time to work through the models.”
“We have a road map to add incremental enhancements as we continue to grow …” added Reilly. “We could envision, say, adding [country or other specific ETFs], which would be more tactical purchases for clients to make, over time.”
Alternatives will be an option for Merrill Edge clients, Prasad stresses. “Yes, absolutely. It’s a matter of working through our processes. We will continue to expand the [product] list and make this part of the road map.”
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More from Janet Levaux on ThinkAdvisor:
Asian stocks rose for a fourth day, with Japanese shares gaining as the yen weakened after a report Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering a corporate-tax cut and data showed machinery orders beat estimates.
Honda Motor Co. (7267), which gets 83 percent of sales from overseas, increased 1.9 percent, pacing gains among Japanese exporters. Sony Financial Holdings Inc., the financial services unit of electronics maker Sony Corp., jumped 2.8 percent in Tokyo after proposing a higher dividend. Newcrest (NCM) Mining Ltd. slipped 2.3 percent as brokers cut ratings on shares of Australia�� biggest gold producer.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.9 percent to 135.24 at 7:43 p.m. in Hong Kong as more than six shares rose for every one that fell. Nine of 10 industry groups gained on the gauge, which posted its longest winning streak in six weeks.
��he yen returning to the 97 level is positive and a corporate tax cut would be reflected on company earnings directly, so its impact on the market would be huge,��Toshihiko Matsuno, a strategist at Tokyo-based SMBC Friend Securities Co., a unit of Japan�� second-biggest lender by market value, said by telephone. ��he U.S. economy isn�� doing too badly and the dollar was sold off too much.��
Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives worldwide. It operates through three lines of businesses: Machinery, Engines, and Financial Products. The Machinery business offers construction, mining, and forestry machinery, including track and wheel tractors, track and wheel loaders, pipelayers, motor graders, wheel tractor-scrapers, track and wheel excavators, backhoe loaders, log skidders, log loaders, off-highway trucks, articulated trucks, paving products, skid steer loaders, underground mining equipment, tunnel boring equipment, and related parts. It also manufactures diesel-electric locomotives; and manufactures and services rail-related products and logistics services for other companies. The Engines business provides diesel, heavy fuel, and natural gas reciprocating engines for Caterpillar machinery, electric power generation systems, marine, petrol eum, construction, industrial, agricultural, and other applications. It offers industrial turbines and turbine-related services for oil and gas, and power generation applications. This business also remanufactures Caterpillar engines, machines, and engine components; and offers remanufacturing services for other companies. The Financial Products business provides retail and wholesale financing alternatives for Caterpillar machinery and engines, solar gas turbines, and other equipment and marine vessels, as well as offers loans and various forms of insurance to customers and dealers. It also offers financing for vehicles, power generation facilities, and marine vessels. The company markets its products directly, as well as through its distribution centers, dealers, and distributors. It was formerly known as Caterpillar Tractor Co. and changed its name to Caterpillar Inc. in 1986. Caterpillar Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:Coal consumption growth in China is estimated to have slowed down to 4% year on year in 2012, down from 10% in 2011. An economic slowdown in�the country�has affected demand, and this has been one of headwinds for Joy because it has substantial exposure to China. Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT ) , one Joy's competitors, is also facing trouble in China of late.
Our first example once again looks at Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) from the earnings and price correlated relationship with a free cash flow overlay (orange shaded area marked with a capital F) added. Clearly we see that Caterpillar (CAT) does generate free cash flow which is a sign of a strong and healthy business. However, we also see that price tracks earnings in a much more correlated fashion than it relates to free cash flow.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was started as Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) was started as Underweight with a $72 price target (versus $84.48 close) by Morgan Stanley.
Is Caterpillar (CAT) really in the Dow? The beaten down industrial stock has gained 3.1% to $89.95 today, more than one percentage point more than Alcoa (AA), the next biggest winner with a 1.9% gain. The Travelers Companies (TRV) has gained 1.9% to $81.99, and 3M (MMM) has climbed 1.5% to $116.78. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen 0.9%.
To put Caterpillar’s gain in perspective, its the stock’s largest jump since May 3, when it rose 3.2%. And with time still remaining today, it could advance even higher.
We’ll chalk the big move up to the better economic news out of China last night, as well as sentiment that the global economy is picking up steam. The Caterpillar is also an industrial stock, and those are pretty popular right now.
I wouldn’t make too much of the move just yet, however. For starters, Caterpillar has been stuck in a range since March, as the following chart shows:
And, as Morgan Stanley reminded investors last week, the market might be expecting too much from Caterpillar. On Sept 5, analyst�Nicole DeBlase and team wrote:
While we agree that Mining destocking activity should cease, we see risk to Construction restocking based on our survey work ��41% of both US and China Construction dealers still think inventory is too high, and plan to reduce throughout the remainder of 2013e. Should Construction activity not pick up materially in early 2014e, we see the potential for this to remain a headwind next year ��but we do still give CAT credit for 5ppts of top-line Construction benefit from restock in 2014e. We are more bearish on Mining CapEx as we do not expect the second derivative of cuts to turn positive until 2016e.
Mogran Stanley initiated the stock as an Equal Weight with an $89 price target.
Dollar Tree, Inc. operates discount variety stores in the United States and Canada. Its stores offer merchandise primarily at the fixed price of $1.00. The company operates its stores under the names of Dollar Tree, Deal$, Dollar Tree Deal$, Dollar Giant, and Dollar Bills. Its stores offer consumable merchandise, including candy and food, and health and beauty care, as well as household consumables, such as paper, plastics, household chemicals, in select stores, and frozen and refrigerated food; variety merchandise, which includes toys, durable housewares, gifts, party goods, greeting cards, softlines, and other items; and seasonal goods, such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas merchandise. As of April 30, 2011, it operated 4,089 stores in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 88 stores in Canada. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:Dollar General�� share price is up less than 6% in the past 12 months, but since the beginning of the year shares have risen more than 22%. And even then, Dollar General�trails Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) in share price growth since January 1. Dollar Tree stock is up 30%.
The shiniest dollar
Many investors and analysts like to debate which dollar store offers the best investment opportunity. The truth is that Dollar General, Dollar Tree Stores (NASDAQ: DLTR ) , and Family Dollar Stores (NYSE: FDO ) are all likely to be quality long-term investments.
Deutsche Bank is making a change in its coverage of dollar store themes on Monday: Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) was raised to Buy from Hold and Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO)�was downgraded to Hold from Buy, but the price target was raised to $74 from $70.
Schlumberger Limited, together with its subsidiaries, supplies technology, integrated project management, and information solutions to the oil and gas exploration and production industries worldwide. The company?s Oilfield Services segment provides exploration and production services; wireline technology that offers open-hole and cased-hole services; supplies engineering support, directional-drilling, measurement-while-drilling, and logging-while-drilling services; and testing services. This segment also offers well services; supplies well completion services and equipment; artificial lift; data and consulting services; geo services; and information solutions, such as consulting, software, information management system, and IT infrastructure services that support oil and gas industry. Its WesternGeco segment provides reservoir imaging, monitoring, and development services; and operates data processing centers and multiclient seismic library. This segment also offers variou s services include 3D and time-lapse (4D) seismic surveys to multi-component surveys for delineating prospects and reservoir management. The company?s M-I SWACO segment supplies drilling fluid systems to improve drilling performance; fluid systems and specialty tools to optimize wellbore productivity; production technology solutions to maximize production rates; and environmental solutions that manages waste volumes generated in drilling and production operations. Its Smith Oilfield segment designs, manufactures, and markets drill bits and borehole enlargement tools; and supplies drilling tools and services, tubular, completion services, and other related downhole solutions. The company?s Distribution segment markets pipes, valves, and fittings, as well as mill, safety, and other maintenance products. This segment also provides warehouse management, vendor integration, and inventory management services. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1927 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Advisors' Opinion:Energy: Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB)�crushed earnings by an astonishing 50.9% last quarter. With Mexico changing its policy on oil exploration, the oil field services leader may see continued strong earnings growth in the years ahead. The consensus price target for the stock is posted at $96. Investors are paid a 1.5% dividend.
2013 has been a stellar year for shares of oil service giant Schlumberger (SLB). Since the calendar flipped over to January, SLB has rallied more than 25%, beating the broad market's impressive pace by double digits. As oil prices linger on the high end of their historic range, SLB is well positioned to keep ticking higher.
Schlumberger provides must-have services to national and supermajor oil firms as well as smaller E&Ps, offering up niche services like seismic surveys and well drilling and positioning. In a nutshell, SLB's job is to pull oil out of the ground as efficiently as possible. Oil firms turn to Schlumberger because the tasks they need to accomplish are too nuanced or proprietary to pull off in-house. So as long as the company continues to pour cash into R&D for drilling technology and software, the firm should continue to score lucrative contracts.
Some of Schlumberger's most attractive opportunities right now come from overseas. The firm is one of the largest oil servicers in Russia, a key growth market in the years ahead. It's also got an important presence in smaller oil markets, where it's a big fish in a small pond. A big scale and stellar reputation should guarantee Schlumberger an attractive piece of the oil pie for years to come.
Tupperware Brands Corporation operates as a direct seller of various products across a range of brands and categories through an independent sales force. The company engages in the manufacture and sale of kitchen and home products, and beauty and personal care products. It offers preparation, storage, and serving solutions for the kitchen and home, as well as kitchen cookware and tools, children?s educational toys, microwave products, and gifts under the Tupperware brand name primarily in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and North America. The company provides beauty and personal care products, which include skin care products, cosmetics, bath and body care, toiletries, fragrances, nutritional products, apparel, and related products principally in Mexico, South Africa, the Philippines, Australia, and Uruguay. It offers beauty and personal care products under the Armand Dupree, Avroy Shlain, BeautiControl, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, Nuvo, and Swissgar de brand names. The company sells its Tupperware products directly to distributors, directors, managers, and dealers; and beauty products primarily through consultants and directors. As of December 26, 2009, the Tupperware distribution system had approximately 1,800 distributors, 61,300 managers, and 1.3 million dealers; and the sales force representing the Beauty businesses approximately 1.1 million. The company was formerly known as Tupperware Corporation and changed its name to Tupperware Brands Corporation in December 2005. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.
Advisors' Opinion:European large-cap pharmaceuticals like Novartis (NVS) �and Bristol Meyers Squibb (BMY) �count amongst some of our favorite stocks right now, as do U.S. multinationals that are growing revenue and margins in Asia ��Tupperware (TUP) �is a shining example. Stay away from utilities and energy stocks, as they are likely to be the laggards over the next year.
Everyone is familiar with�the Tupperware brand from�consumer products stock Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) and you are probably familiar with the brands�of mid cap stock Jarden Corp (NYSE: JAH) along with small cap stocks Libbey Inc (NYSEMKT: LBY) and Lifetime Brands Inc (NASDAQ: LCUT); but what about the stocks themselves? Chances are, their brands or products are right under your nose at home and you probably don�� know anything about the mid cap or small cap stock behind them.
Dave Nadig Dave Nadig, the president of Index Universe's ETF Analytics, has closely watched the explosion of the number of exchange-traded products for years.
Exchange-traded funds and notes have allowed retail investors to take advantage of the run-up in commodities prices for the past several years.
He spoke in an interview on the sidelines of the Index Universe Inside Commodities conference in New York Monday about what role these products might play in investors' portfolios.
InvestmentNews: What is happening in the ETP market with commodities?
Mr. Nadig: I really do feel like we're in that third wave of commodity ETFs right now, where there's a lot of breadth and there's a lot of different ways of attacking different commodities and attacking the contango problem, and now it's really a matter of what commodities markets investors are finding hot to see which products people are moving into. We certainly saw with GLD [SPDR Gold Shares ETF] — it got tremendous assets on the run-up as gold sort of petered out a little bit — a tremendous amount of money came out of that fund as well.
From my perspective, the ETF story there is that the product functioned perfectly all the way through. It dealt with those huge inflows and outflows without missing a beat.
InvestmentNews: What do you see coming next?
Mr. Nadig: If I look at what's in filing I think you'll see more of these sort of contango-beater products. Those contango-beater products are a harder sell so I think they'll come out and age for a while just like an active-managed mutual fund often will not generate assets for three years until it gets a decent track record under it.
One concern hat a lot of investors had in the past about commodities ETFs was the tax treatment, and what I think we've seen is investors getting smarter about that. Currently, if you're invested in a commodities ETF that's actually holding futures you get treated as if you actually held the futures. You get mark-to-market at the end of the year, you get 60-40 long term-short term tax treatment and you get a k-1 statement because it's a partnership. A lot of investors are wary of that and don't particularly like it so what we've seen is a lot more education around the fact that the exchange-traded-note side of the market gets treated like a stock. You get long-term capital gains treatment out of it, which from our perspective is a big advantage to those types of products.
Now, in my opinion, almost all of them are still too ex! pensive. I think at some point we'll see a price war there. We saw the beginnings of that price war in the gold funds where IAU [iShares Gold ETF] undercut GLD's pricing by a substantial margin and consequently saw a lot of asset flow. So those kinds of price wars do generate more in assets. There are still few enough players in the space that I don't expect the price war to be imminent and vicious, but I think you will see pressure on prices downward over time as these products mature.
The democratization of investing is a force built on the back of the Internet, which is not going to go away. It'll only become easier to trade more obscure instruments. It'll only become easier to analyze those instruments. ETNs will only get bigger and more liquid over time. ETPs right now are currently about 30% of NYSE trading volume. That's an enormous part of the financial system, and that's only going to go up. I don't see that changing any time soon. We'll see more assets moving out of mutual funds into ETFs because people like the liquidity and the tax advantages and the transparency of knowing what they own.
InvestmentNews: How will the taper affect how people use these products?
Mr. Nadig: The question really is how much does the interest rate environment impact commodities prices. One of the things I love about the commodities market is that compared to things like interest rates and credits markets or the stock markets, supply and demand is laid bare in commodities. And ultimately the prime driver of commodities prices is going to be supply and demand. Historically collateral yield was the biggest component of being a commodities investor. You would take this levered position in, say, corn, and most of your return came from the fact that you also took the collateral for that position and invested it in Treasuries, and that Treasury yield was this constant tail wind on your investment, and then you could just earn a little extra coming out of corn if you got corn right.
Well obviously collateral yield! has effe! ctively been zero for the past five years. So if we actually enter a rising interest rate environment, if the taper actually happens and we actually start seeing yield on short paper at 3% to 4% again, now all of a sudden here's that tail wind built into commodities. It hasn't been that way for this entire commodities cycle. That would be good for commodities investors.
But the more speculative the commodity the less it's impacted by supply and demand.
InvestmentNews: What about gold?
Mr. Nadig: Gold, and for the most part silver, I view as alternative currency, not commodities. Fundamentally, supply and demand in gold are effectively artificial. There's limited ability to generate supply, which is why it has value at all. So really the main driver of gold prices is always going to be demand. That demand comes from people trying to have alternate stores of wealth, that is largely an investor sentiment issue, so it's driven by fundamentally different factors than any other commodity you can trade. My opinion is that we see gold effectively range bound until we see significant movement on QE.
InvestmentNews: Do commodities fit into asset allocations differently now?
Mr. Nadig: Absolutely. I've seen statistics recently that suggest that commodities allocations are up to 8%, 9% in institutional portfolios. That's significantly up from 3%, 4%, 5% that that was, say, five, 10 years ago. Now a lot of that allocation has been to gold in that bucket, an
Cancer Genetics (NASDAQ: CGIX), an emerging leader in DNA-based cancer diagnostics, priced a $15 million secondary offering and began trading on the NASDAQ today.
The offering will bring in a sizable cash infusion to CGIX, setting the stage for continued expansion of the Company's sales and marketing efforts, as well as further product development and commercialization. In addition, it will enable the Company to fund its joint venture investment with Mayo Clinic and retire mezzanine financing.
CGIX is part of a growing trend in healthcare – personalized cancer care based on genetic information. The Wall Street Journal covered this revolutionary shift in a front-page article on Tuesday: "Gene Breakthroughs Spark a Revolution in Cancer Treatment."
Unlike many of its peers, which trade an average of nearly 100x sales, CGIX already has multiple tests in the market that are producing revenue. Yet today the stock can be picked up for less than 9x sales.
Regional broker-dealer Feltl & Co. issued a buy rating on the stock earlier this year with a $17.50 price target. With this new capital infusion and the increased exposure CGIX will get as a NASDAQ-listed company, it's likely it could trade for quite a bit more in the coming months.
Be sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter to stay up-to-date on future developments with this exciting story as it works to become the leader in the personalization of cancer treatment based on molecular diagnostics. Also keep an eye out for our next interview with the Company's CEO, Panna Sharma, who will be able to shed further light on the Company's many successes and future prospects.
Disclosure: The subject security is a client of RedChip Companies, Inc. RedChip Companies, Inc., employees and affiliates may have positions and affect transactions in the securities or options of the issuers mentioned herein. For full financial disclosures for all RedChip clients, please visit http://www.redchip.com/disclosures.asp?src=rcv.
From the Editor: Shah Gilani is one of the few people who can show you how it really is. In this case, he's going to show you the real reason the Fed chose not to taper. If you're overly idealistic, don't read this. It will only anger you. That, of course, is why Shah's naming names today...
Ben Bernanke is the don of the greatest criminal enterprise in the world.
And yesterday his made monsters, the Five Families, lined up to kiss his ring, again.
By not "tapering" or reducing the $85 billion a month ($45 billion in Treasuries and $40 billion in agency mortgage-backed securities) the Fed is buying from banks, the Fed is saying to its hit men, "We are family, and as long as Johnny Law is coming after you, we've got your back."
The "legal and litigation costs" (that means lawyers and fines) racked up by America's Five Families since the credit crisis gently (not) ushered in the Great Recession is over $103 billion, by some estimates. That doesn't include actual losses from related activities.
The Five Families, according to the Federal Reserve, are big, very big bosses in their territories, which means America and a good part of the world.
Let's name names... and then I'll tell you the REAL reason the Fed didn't taper yesterday.
Here are the Five and how big (by total assets) they are as of 06/30/2013:
| 1. JPMorgan Chase & Co. | $2,439,494,000,000 |
| 2. Bank of America Corp. | $2,125,686,000,000 |
| 3. Citigroup Inc. | $1,883,988,000,000 |
| 4. Wells Fargo & Co.. | $1,440,563,000,000 |
| 5. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | $938,611,000,000 |
That's a lot of muscle.
Let's look at just JPMorgan's rap sheet, because it's fantastic (as in I can't believe it) and sickening to me.
While JPM has spent some $16 billion in legal expenses and some $7 billion in fines (oh wait, add another $920 million in fines as of this morning for the Whale tale they told regulators...) related to the financial crisis, since the end of 2007 through the first half of 2013, it has also paid out $23.9 billion in dividends to common shareholders.
Now, don't get me wrong. The bank isn't technically guilty of any of these misdeeds (crimes?). So just because they may be accused of things or may have paid fines related to some of this stuff, or will pay fines, or will keep on keeping-on paying legal and litigation costs on account of the myriad "other" cases being brought by government gumshoes (SEC, CFTC, OCC, FBI, Justice Department, State Attorneys General, Federal prosecutors) and class-action lawyers, and ma and pa investors everywhere, they've neither admitted nor denied anything.
This stuff is all "alleged," got it?
This list is off the top of my head, so please feel free to chime in on anything I missed.
Without admitting or denying doing the following, JPM did the following:
Conspired with other big banks to rig LIBOR Conspired with other big banks to rig derivative prices Hid massive losses on mortgage securities by creating off-balance sheet "conduits" Pawned off bad mortgages on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Built mortgage-backed derivative products to fail to sell to clients and bet against them Aided and abetted mortgage originators falsifying loan documents to make mortgages Manipulated energy rates, ripping off states and consumers Ripped off consumers on overdraft and other banking fees and charges Strong-armed credit card customers with abusive collection schemes Hid massive losses at its London trading office from regulators Accused of money launderingThat's off the top of my head. What else do you all have on them that I've forgotten?
Now, I'm not calling JPM a criminal enterprise. It's a bank. But if it was a criminal enterprise it would be one helluva bank.
You want to know why the Fed didn't taper yesterday? Because the banks need more money, and the Fed's stimulus QE program is all about pumping up the banks' balance sheets.
Is that so they have money that trickles down to consumers who might want or need loans?
NO.
Because the banks in the criminal enterprise system are spending billions on litigation and fines, and on top of that, they have to have plenty of money, cash, to pay common holders fat dividends.
Why? So their stock prices go up, so their bonus pools get bigger, so they can hire more smarter people to generate new schemes to rip off more consumers and businesses and governments.
That's what yesterday was; it was a ring-kissing ceremony. And you thought it was a press conference... silly you.
Next: Shah Shows You How to Make 455% by "Bubble Watching"
Any time you see a merger announcement, you see a myriad of press releases pertaining to law firms and lawyers investigating the terms of the deal. This is in one sense the new form of class action lawsuit of yesteryear, but sometimes these suits and investigations do have merit. Now that Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) has confirmed its $10.4 billion of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX), the lawyers have been coming out of the woodwork.
Onyx is up 5.6% at $123.55 against a 52-week range of $68.12 to $136.87. Wall Street believes that Amgen is getting a steal here because its shares are up over 8% at $114.37 and shares hit a new all-time of $116.25 early today. Now the question is whether or not the lawyers can wrangle more money out of Amgen for Onyx. We would note that Onyx has been in a bidding situation and this was the end result of that bidding situation.
It used to be that law firms would announce class action suits, but now they simply announce “investigations.” This is where the law firms are effectively throwing up their business cards ahead of a class action lawsuit. Here are some of the law firm announcements today:
Former United States Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Willie Briscoe and the securities litigation firm of Powers Taylor, LLP are investigating the merger of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. with Amgen, Inc. for shareholders. Under the terms of the proposed merger agreement, valued at approximately $10.4 billion, Onyx shareholders are expected to receive $125 per share of Onyx common stock owned, well below the 52-week high of $136.87. Bernstein Liebhard LLP is investigating whether the Board of Directors of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. breached its fiduciary duty to its shareholders in agreeing to sell Onyx to Amgen… Under the terms of the agreement, Onyx shareholders will receive $125.00 in cash for each share they own. The investigation is focused on the potential unfairness of the price to Onyx shareholders and the process by which the Onyx Board of Directors considered and approved the transaction. The securities litigation firm of Brower Piven, A Professional Corporation, has commenced an investigation into possible breaches of fiduciary duty to current shareholders of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and other violations of state law by the board of directors of Onyx Pharmaceuticals relating to the proposed buyout of the Company by Amgen Inc. The firm's investigation seeks to determine, among other things, whether the board of directors of Onyx Pharmaceuticals breached their fiduciary duties by failing to maximize shareholder value… According to Yahoo! Finance, the high analyst price target is $160.00 per Onyx Pharmaceuticals share.Onyx Pharma was just recently covered as one of our ten companies expected to double sales in the next two to four years. Another big biotech gets gobbled up. Stay tuned.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas (TheStreet) -- This morning's Repros Therapeutics (RPRX) conference call was boring. There was no discussion of gay Cuban sex, no admission of fabricated clinical data. The closest we got to fun was Repros CEO Joe Podolski explaining men who took the experimental testosterone-raising drug Androxal were reporting "lower rates of abstinence" and therefore had low sperm counts. (Lots of ejaculations, understand?)
Repros reported results from a second pivotal study of Androxal on Tuesday which read very much like what the company said last March about the first study: Androxal, a pill, normalized testosterone levels in men with lower-than-normal testosterone and did not cause a statistically lower sperm count than placebo.
A lot of Androxal data wasn't reported Tuesday, just like it was omitted last March. Instead, Repros' Podolksi offered assurances about Androxal's efficacy and safety, even while remaining non-committal about presenting complete results from the two clinical trials at a medical meeting.
The company intends to file Androxal for approval with the FDA in the middle of next year. Repros shares rose 21% to 25.62 Tuesday, so like last March, investors are brushing off the real risk FDA rejects Androxal. Androxal is a variant of the female reproductive hormone Clomid which Repros is developing as a treatment for men with low testosterone. Right now, men with "low T" are prescribed various testosterone-laden gels and creams -- Abbvie's (ABBV) Androgel, Auxillium Pharmaceuticals' (AUXL) Testim or Eli Lilly's (LLY) Axiron. The worldwide testosterone market is $2 billion annually and growing but these rub-on treatments are messy, carry the risk of transference and cause sperm counts to fall. (A big negative for men who still want to father kids.) As a pill, Androxal is designed to be much more convenient, can't be transferred to kids or women, and most importantly, doesn't lower sperm count. In the second phase III study disclosed Tuesday, Repros said 81% of Androxal-treated men reached normal testosterone range, which exceeded the 75% threshold requirement under the Special Protocol Agreement reached with the FDA. [Seventy-nine percent of men on Androxal reported normal testosterone in the first phase III study.] What was the rate of testosterone normalization for men treated with placebo in the phase III study? Repros did not disclose.
What were the baseline and end-of-treatment levels of testosterone for patients in both arms of the study? Repros did not disclose.
Was the testosterone normalization endpoint reached with statistical significance? Repros did not disclose. [The terms "statistical significance" or "statistically signifcant" do not appear in today's press release.]
The study's sperm count endpoint is similarly messy.
Twenty of 134 men on Androxal reported sperm counts that fell 50% below their baseline levels compared to 2 of 47 men on placebo. While numerically worse, Repros said the Androxal was statistically non inferior to placebo but only just barely. To meet the study's sperm-count endpoint, Androxal could be no more than 20% worse than placebo. The reported statistical difference was 18.3%. Last March, Repros admitted that one of the clinical trials sites fabricated baseline sperm counts for patients. As a result, the company analyzed the study omitting patients from that troubled site. Here, the statistical worsening in sperm count reduction was 19.6%, meaning the study came within a whisper of failing on this endpoint. Repros also slipped in a change to the reporting from the first phase III study. Tuesday, the company said 16 of 113 Androxal-treated men reported sperm counts lower than 50% from baseline. Last March, it was 15 of 113 patients. Under the SPA agreement, Androxal must meet both primary endpoints in both phase III clinical trials in order for the study to be considered successful. On Tuesday, Repros said it "believes" the sperm-count endpoint was met. Why not just make a definitive statement? Repros CEO Podolski blamed his lawyers for wanting to be conservative. Repros must complete an Androxal safety study plus finish some preclinical work before submitting for FDA approval in the middle of next year. The company is also still working through a messy challenge to the patents for Androxal by a New York urologist who claims Podolski stole the idea for the drug from him. -- Reported by Adam Feuerstein in Boston. Follow @AdamFeuerstein
Adam Feuerstein writes regularly for TheStreet. In keeping with company editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks, although he owns stock in TheStreet. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. Feuerstein appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.span.style4 {font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; } span.style5 {font-size: 10px}
By Jonathan Moreland, founder of Insider Insights and author of Profit From Legal Insider Trading.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It is a victory for common sense. Tracking the trading behavior of company executives, directors and large shareholders in the stocks of firms they're registered in as "insiders" has proven to be profitable, according to both academic studies and (more importantly) the experience of professional investors.
Below are lists of the top 10 mainly open-market insider purchases and sales filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, Sept. 16, 2013 as ranked by dollar value. Please note, however, that these are only factual lists, not buy and sell recommendations. Dollar value is only one metric to assess the importance of an insider transaction, and, frankly, often not even the most important metric that determines if an insider transaction is significant. At InsiderInsights.com, we find new investment ideas just about every day using these and more intricate insider screens to determine where we should focus our subsequent fundamental and technical analysis. And while stocks don't (or shouldn't) move up or down based on insider activity alone, insiders tend to be good indicators of when real stock-moving events like earnings surprises, corporate actions, and new products may be in the offing. So use these regular Top Insider Trades columns as the initial research tools they are meant to be, and click the links in the tables to analyze a company's or insider's full insider history. Also feel free to contact us with any questions on our proprietary insider data, and how it is best analyzed.
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