Why Antero Midstream Partners LP (AM), Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (PTLA) and Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) Are 3 of Today’s Worst Stocks

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Following through on Wednesday’s weakness and headed into the three-day weekend, the market was content to start Thursday rather deep in the red. It didn’t end the day that way, though. The S&P 500 finished the day and the shortened week at 2035.94, down a mere 0.04%for the session.

Why Antero Midstream Partners LP (AM), Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (PTLA) and Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) are 3 of Today's Worst StocksPaypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), Antero Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:AM) and Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PTLA) didn’t fare as well, using more than their fair share of red ink. Here’s what investors need to know about each name.

Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL)

Most of the time when an analyst initiates new coverage on a stock, it’s a positive event in that it gives potential investors another way to learn more about a particular stock and justify buying it. When that new coverage is bearish, however, the opposite happens — it gives the market a new reason to sell it.

That’s what happened to Paypal Holdings on Thursday. Sterne Agee CRT opened up analytical coverage of PYPL, but opened that coverage with a “Neutral” rating and a price target of only $45.

That target is above the stock’s current price of nearly $39, but Sterne Agee CRT believes valuation problems could work against shares, and further suggested that Paypal may struggle to maintain its lead on the rest of the market in the digital payment space.

PYPL closed a little more than 4% lower on Thursday.

Antero Midstream Partners LP (AM)

At first glance, it would be easy to assume Antero Midstream Partners shares lost 13% of their value on Thursday because oil prices once again tanked. To be fair, the pullback from crude did have something to do with the pullback from AM, but there’s a bigger reason Antero Midstream Partners was up-ended today. That is, investors were, and are, less than thrilled with the terms of the secondary offering from limited partnership partner Antero Resources Corp (NYSE:AR), of which Antero Midstream Partners is a major holder.

All told, 8 million common units are to be issued at a price significantly lower than the current market price… $22.40, to be specific. Aside from the dilution and sub-market valuation, the deal is a bit open-ended in terms of how and when the underwriter will handle the sales.

Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (PTLA)

Last, but not least, Portola Pharmaceuticals saw its stock plunge 30% on Thursday after the company gave investors an update on a blood clot drug. Long story made short, it missed the mark.

The therapy in question is called Betrixaban, and was in phase 3 trials as a treatment for blood clots in acute medically ill patients. PTLA investors had great hopes for Betrixaban up until this point, having watched it make progress all the way into late-stage testing. One of the phase 3 trial’s two arms, however, didn’t experience enough efficacy to call a success. On the other hand…

Although Betrixaban wasn’t the all-around success everyone is hoping for, the group that did see a benefit from the treatment saw enough of a benefit for the company to go ahead and plan on submitting an NDA for that particular indication later in 2016.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/03/why-antero-midstream-partners-lp-am-portola-pharmaceuticals-inc-ptla-and-paypal-holdings-inc-pypl-are-3-of-todays-worst-stocks/.

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