Pharmaceutical M&A news made for one of the most interesting market moves of the day, leaving a group of investors with about 50% more money than they carried into Wednesday’s trading.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLN) shot up by 54% Wednesday on reports that it rejected a $3.5 billion takeover bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) earlier this year.
A Deutsche Bank analyst says Amylin’s diabetes drug Bydureon, which recently received regulatory approval, “could be worth up to $1.5 billion in peak annual sales,” according to a Bloomberg report, and says AMLN shares could be worth up to $31. The proposed deal from Bristol-Myers was thought to be $22 per share; AMLN finished Wednesday’s trading at $23.81.
A Leerink Swann analyst thinks potential future suitors could include AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) and French pharma outfit Sanofi (NYSE:SNY), according to the report.
Homebuilder KB Home (NYSE:KBH) continued a weeks-long freefall in which it has seen shares lose almost 30% of their value. KBH dropped about 3% to $9.29 on Wednesday, possibly brought on by continued worry about KB Home’s first-quarter earnings report, in which the company recorded an almost $46 million (59 cents per share) loss, far worse than expectations for a 34-cent loss. KBH also saw an 8% drop in orders for the period.
And although the big headline of the day was the national price for gas heading up to $3.90 per gallon, several energy stocks weren’t up for the climb. Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) was down 4.1%, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) shed 3.6% and HollyFrontier (NYSE:HFC) lost about 3.5%, among others.
A few companies also made their public-trading debuts, including Vocera Communications (NYSE:VCRA, more here) and organic food brand Annie’s (NYSE:BNNY, more here).
Three Up
- Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR): Up 7.5% (97 cents) to $13.94.
- PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM): Up 4.6% (42 cents) to $9.48.
- United Continental (NYSE:UAL): Up 4.6% (96 cents) to $21.89.
Three Down
- Affymax (NASDAQ:AFFY): Down 8.1% ($1.16) to $13.15.
- Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD): Down 6.1% ($4.51) to $68.99. (Read more about Sears here)
- Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA): Down 6% (78 cents) to $12.24.
Kyle Woodley is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here.
