Biotech Stock in Focus; BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

February 27th, 2011

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX) reported net loss for the fourth quarter as compared with net income for the comparable period previous year. This year, the company advanced its BCX4208 gout program by completing two successful phase II studies and starting a large add-on study in patients not reaching goal on allopurinol alone. The company expects to complete its BCX4208 phase II program by the end of this year and plan to seek regulatory advice regarding its phase III program in the first half of 2012.

The company reported fourth-quarter revenues of $17.8 million consisted primarily of reimbursement of collaboration expenses, including $14.9 million from the contract with the Department of Health and Human Services for the continued development of i.v. peramivir and the recognition of $1.1 million in grant income from the U.S. Government’s QTDP program. It also includes $0.7 million royalty revenue from Shionogi’s sales of RAPIACTA in Japan, which was originally recorded during the first quarter 2010, was reversed. The

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Tags: Biocryst, Biocryst Pharmaceuticals

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(JPM) Banks on Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Problem Institutions Grow

February 27th, 2011

The number of banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) list of problem institutions grew to 884 in the fourth quarter from 860 in the previous quarter, the agency said on Wednesday. This is the highest number since the savings and loan crisis in the early 1990s. However, the quarter witnessed strong overall profits by the FDIC insured banks.

Banks that feature on the problem list face imminent failure, though some may survive and pull out of the crisis. As of now, only less than a quarter of banks on FDICs problem list have actually failed. This ratio, however, is likely to change. While the list is increasing at a slower pace, bank failures are accelerating.

Size of Problem Banks

Most of the problem banks are small institutions. Total assets of these banks increased to $390 billion in the fourth quarter from $379 billion in the prior quarter, but plummeted from $403 billion reported at the end of 2009.

Bank Failures: Cause and Consequence

There have been 22 bank failures so far this year, preceded by 157 in 2010, 140 in 2009 and 25 in 2008. I

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Tags: Deposit Insurance Corporation, Insurance Corporation, Problem, Problem Institutions

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US Dollar About to Lose Reserve Currency Status – Fact or Fantasy?

February 26th, 2011

A number of sites are commenting on a Bloomberg video in which El-Erian, PIMCO Co-CEO says “Dollar could lose its reserve currency status”.

Bloomberg: “Mohammad what does a weak dollar signal to you, a dollar that can’t jump up here on a day like we’ve seen today?”

El-Erian: “It is a warning shot to America that we cannot simply assume flight to quality, flight to safety. That people are starting to worry about the fiscal situation in the U.S. They are starting to worry about the level of debt. They are starting to worry about what they hear about states and municipalities.

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Tags: Currency Status, Reserve Currency, Reserve Currency Status, Status

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I Swapped To The Short Side

February 26th, 2011

This is a slight chance I’m taking here going short. The trend is still up, but the reasons I see are one major crackage in breadth – number of stocks turning up vs turning down, several indicators I look at on weekly and daily time frames are deteriorating, and the bounce today was good in the indexes by barely reclaiming the 21dema.

Not only that, but many stocks performed weaker in comparison to the index performance, namely the RUT. The number of fresh turn ups I’m seeing are all the inverse ETFs. I’m looking for a quick 2-3 day washout on the downside, than a reclaim of the uptrend that will likely take us to new highs probably before summer. After that a decent summer pullback and probably higher still, but anything beyond 2 weeks is bigger guess than the one I made with my positions today.

I know I just got back into the solars as trend play, but they had reversal candles today I didn’t like the action. Ford had a nice day today and the call positions paid off. AMR and LCC profits were taking early and that was a good trade as they didn’t finish as well as they started. MSFT I dumped my whole position. Today should’ve been the day if it was going to make its move. It didn’t. Th

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Tags: Short, Short Side

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If I Never Got Any Of This, I’d Be…

February 21st, 2011

…depressed.

However, this is not the case. Market still looks special.

My still biggest f–k up since my reason to get long back in Sept 2010, was exiting my rocket portfolio early. That set of stocks is up over 105%. I’m always going to include some bad with any good I write.

SOL – Been selling into the breakout, had heavy position. Up 9-14% in different accounts.

JASO – Been selling into the breakout. Have a smaller position, was very heavy. Up 15% in different accounts.

GBG – gold doing well and chart compressed into that downtrend line.

On Friday I went heavy into MSFT. MSFT?! Why MSFT you ask? Basically its the same reasons I got into TTM (I didn’t hold this one long enough to get full profit), GFI, other golds, and the Solars. I really like

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Medtronic Announces Q3 Results (MDT)

February 21st, 2011

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) reported a rise in profit for the third quarter, exceeding market estimates, primarily due to the strength of newly launched products. The company also said that it plans a restructuring, which would result in a workforce reduction of up to 2,000 positions in the fourth quarter.

The company reported that its third-quarter net earnings increased 11% to $924 million from $831 million last year, and earnings per share increased 15% to $0.86 from $0.75 a year ago. The results included an $85 million gain from the acquisition of Ardian, offsetting IPR&D, litigation and other charges, as well as acquisition-related costs. The adjusted earnings, which excluded items, rose 8% to $922 million from $857 million a year ago, and earnings per share grew 12% to $0.86 from $0.77 last year. The company reported quarterly net sales of $3.96 billion, an increase of 3% from $3.85 billion a year ago. The company’s international sales rose 5% to $1.70 billion, and accounted for 43% of worldwide revenue. Emerging market revenue increased 26% in the third quarter. C

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Tags: Mdt, Results Mdt

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