Genentech (DNA, $82.10, up $0.86) came out with some great news yesterday after the bell and said a late-stage study combining Avastin with Tarceva to treat lung cancer was a huge success. Tarceva is a drug from OSI Pharmaceutical’s (OSIP, $36.39, up $0.79) pipeline and is marketed by Genentech. The two drugs were used as treatment for patients with “advanced nonsmall cell” lung cancer.
The phase 3 trial was stopped early following the recommendation of an independent data safety monitoring board and they could be taking this thing to the FDA real soon. Both stocks got a lift in after-hours, Genentech was up another 90 cents but OSI was up 11%, or $4.04, to $40.43.
The reason OSI Pharmaceutical get more of a pop is because of the whole Genentech/Roche garbage. Roche’s new bid has put a lid on shares and if Genentech would have gotten the pop like OSI did, the stock would be in the low $90′s. No matter how good of a trader you are or how much you study a trade that looks “money”, the market can throw you a curveball.
The OSI call options will get a huge boost on Tuesday. Watch the February 40 calls (GHUBH, $1.00, up $0.50) which had huge volume yesterday and the February 45 calls (GHUBI, $0.15, up $0.06) which traded over 4x its open interest. The clue here during the day was how much the February 40 call options jumped compared to the stock move. The stock was up 2% but that shouldn’t warrent a $4 out-of-the-money call to jump 50%. The February 40 call options could open up anywhere from $2-$3 if the gains hold.
DO NOT chase these calls or trade them, I just want to show you how much they are going to pop this morning.
Genentech is getting a raw deal and maybe the tide will start to turn with this huge announcement. There’s just too much momentum behind the company for the market to ignore. Roche is throwing the baby out with the bath water in its attempt to get Genentech on the cheap. Hopefully, the market will see this and start rewarding Genentech with the premium it deserves.
Elsewhere, there was heavy trading in Amgen’s (AMGN, $55.36, up $0.51) call options. The February 60 calls (YAABL, $0.39, up $0.16) traded over 4,000 contracts and the March 60 calls (YAACL, $1.21, up $0.14) traded over 1,800. There’s talk that Amgen could be a takeover target.
I like the March 60 calls more than the February’s because they allow much more time for not much more premium. In other words, I get an extra 4 weeks for the stock to move past $60 for 80 cents. If the stock gets anywhere near $60 it should have the strength to challenge its 52-week high of $66.51. If you are going to swing for the fences, swing big baby.
Biotech has been hot and time will tell if it gets “white” hot. It’s been frustrating to watch the events with Genentech because things are happening that should have pushed the stock to over $100.
Rick Rouse
Rick@OptionsMentoring.com











M&A Heats Up
Monday, March 1st, 2010
1:00pm (EST)
The bulls came out in a buying mood this morning as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity continues to pick up and more information about a possible European bailout of Greece has lifted the market.
At midday, the Dow is up 80 points, or 0.8%, to 10,404, while the S&P has climbed 10 points, or 0.9%, to 1,114. The Nasdaq is showing the most strength as the index is up 31 points, or 1.4% to 2,270.
We mentioned the AIG (AIG, $26.30, up $1.53) news this morning and in other M&A activity, OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP, $56.41, up $19.39) is up a whopping 52% after getting a buyout offer from Japanese drugmaker, Astellas Pharma. The $3.5 billion takeover offer for OSI Pharmaceuticals is being presented directly to shareholders after being rebuffed several times by executives at OSI.
We saw some action in shares of OSI last week but we didn’t think a buyout was right around the corner. Too bad. The March 35 calls (GHU100320C00035000, $20.90, up $18.70) are up 850%…
In economic news, the Commerce Department said personal spending rose 0.5% in January. Wall Street was looking for an increase of 0.4%. However, personal income edged up 0.1%, below the 0.4% forecast by the pencil pushers. It was the slowest growth in income in four months.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its manufacturing index fell to 56.5 in February from 58.4 in January. Wall Street was looking for a print of 58. The one silver lining was that the report sees manufacturing employment improving. The ISM releases its services industries index on Wednesday.
Before we go, we thought we would mention the strength Sandisk (SNDK, $31.95, up $2.80) is showing today after the company boosted its first-quarter guidance to reflect more demand for memory chips. The 9% pop has the stock at a new 52-week high. Sandisk was on our Watch List but we just missed bagging a 200% return…
We have some other trades that are doing really well today but obviously we are disappointed we didn’t pull the trigger on Sandisk last week. Current subscribers, check the Members Area for the juicy updates.
Tags: Mergers and Acquisitions, option picks, option signals, options alerts, OSI Pharmaceutical, OSIP, Sandisk, SNDK, stock options trading
Posted in Company Commentary, Earnings, Market Analysis, Market Commentary, Mergers and Acquisitions, Option Trades | Comments Off