Biotechs Mixed Today – Alexion (ALXN) Plummets

Ophthotech (OPHT) Down an Astounding 86.36% to $5.29

Alexion-Company Fired its CEO and CFO on Sales Practices. Board member David Brennan and former CEO of AstraZeneca will take the helm. The third quarter report has been delayed on accounting issues and will be filed by mid – January. ALXN stock is down 12.7% today at $115.26 a low for the year down 39.67% YTD.

Adding to the drama today Regeneron (REGN) benefited from two clinical pivotal Phase 3 trial failures of Fovista in Wet Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) from Ophthotech. The addition of Fovista ant-PDGF drug to the Novaritis (NVS) Lucentis anti-VEGF regimen did not result in a benefit and now is viewed as not a risk for Eyelea the superior Regeneron drug. Considering that Ophthotech is a speculative stock with a binary clinical play,  87.6% of OPHT shares were held by institutions and mutual funds. The Company has about $300M in cash on its balance sheet as of 9/30/16 and has two other clinical stage products.

Regeneron (REGN) was up 3.83% to $387 on the failures of the Ophtotech drug. Revenues for Regeneron are expected to grow by 16.5% to the $5.76B range next year however the PEG is till a high 2.96 and the P/S is 8.54. The REGN stock is at its mid-range between its double top and double bottom. Most analysts have a hold or market perform on REGN.

Other bellwether biotechs were mixed today but mainly on the red side: IBB down 0.79%, XBI down 1.49%, Rayno Portfolio stocks that did well: Abbvie (ABBV) up 0.8%, Amgen (AMGN) up 1.61%,  Array biopharma (ARRY) up 0.69%, bluebird bio (BLUE) up 0.72% and Gilead Sciences (GILD) up 1.06%.Healthcare stocks found support with the XLV up 0.48%. finally up over five days.

Abbvie is our top large cap pick.

Trump targeted aerospace and defense stocks today hitting Lockhee (LMT) down 2.47% on the cost of the F-35 program.

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