(BFW) Shire Sees Ophthalmology as Potential M&A ‘Area of Interest’

Shire Sees Ophthalmology as Potential M&A ‘Area of Interest’
2015-06-02 14:55:49.836 GMT


By Sasha Damouni
(Bloomberg) -- Shire sees opthamology as area of interest
for acquisition opportunities that would enable co. to support
lifitegrast product, CFO Jeff Poulton said during Jefferies
Global Healthcare Conference in New York.

* Size is seen as not a “driving or determining factor” in
acquisitions generally; focused on strategic fit
*
* Says “feeding frenzy” going on in M&A today
* Doesn’t feel pressure to make acquisition
* NOTE: In April, Shire announced FDA accepted for filing NDA
for lifitegrast, was granted Priority Review designation
*
* Lifitegrast is investigational treatment for dry eye
disease
* Co. said NPS Pharma’s Gattex had 30% discontinuation rate;
not efficacy-related but patients are “pretty sick and need
support”
*
* Shire said it believes with its own patient services
program, therapy will be more effective to manage
* HAE space has ~8k-10k patients in U.S.; Shire has ~50%
penetration, still has “lots of opportunities to grow
Firazyr and cinryze

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To contact the reporter on this story:
Sasha Damouni in New York at +1-212-617-7787 or
sdamouni2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Arie Shapira at +1-212-617-1488 or
ashapira3@bloomberg.net

>>> US Gapping Down

Gapping down In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: SOL -6.3%, DAKT -5.4%, QUNR -2.4%, ODFL -2.1%, (announces May 2015, LTL tons per day have increased 9.6% Y/Y; co revises expectations for Q2 LTL to +9.5-10% Y/Y)

Select Airline related names showing weakness: DAL -1.9%, UAL -1.7%, LUV -1.1%

Other news: HERO -8.1% (announced rate reductions for Hercules 261, Hercules 262 and Hercules 266 contracts), RGLS -6.6% (Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos to step down as President and CEO; Paul Grint appointed President and CEO), TUBE -5.5% (filed for $75 mln offering of common stock), CG -3.8% (files for offering of common units representing limited partner interests; announces an offering of 7 mln common units), IBN -3% (Sensex down 2.5% overnight), AER -2.7% (announced launch of an underwritten secondary offering by AIG of 50 mln ordinary shares; co to repurchase $750 mln of the shares being sold by AIG), CERU -2.6% ( announces that full data from a Phase 1b/2 investigator-sponsored trial of CRLX101 in combination with Avastin® (bevacizumab) in metastatic renal cell carcinoma, or RCC, was presented), BXMT -2.6% (announces pricing of its 10 mln offering of common stock), QTS -2.1% ( announces public offering of 5.5 mln shares of common stock), FGP -1.7% (co has commenced an underwritten public offering of 6.325 mln common units; also announced its operating subsidiary will offer $400 mln in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes due 2023), IFN -1.5% (Sensex down 2.5% overnight), CEL -1% (announces controlling sharehoder announcement regarding co's possible rights offering)

Analyst comments: CTRP -4.1% (downgraded to Hold at Stifel), IRM -1.4% (downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies), INTC -0.9% (downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital)

>>> US Gapping Up

Gapping up In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: CBRL +4.5%, HTGM +4.2%, (also HTG Molecular Diagnostics and MD Anderson Cancer Center enter into a sponsored research agreement to investigate new molecular diagnostics for lung cancer ), CONN +4.1%, PVH +3.5%, DG +3%, MDT +0.6%, AMWD +0.4%

M&A news: TA +10.8% (enters sale leaseback transactions wtih Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT); expects net proceeds of $352 million), JUNO +1.7% (acquisition of X-BODY, Inc for initial consideration of approx $21 mln in cash and 439,265 shares ofJuno stock)

Select EU financial related names showing strength: SAN +2.3%, CS +2.3%, ING +1.9%, DB +1.7%, NBG +1.5%

Select oil/gas related names showing strength: MPET +6.8%, STO +2.3%, TOT +1.9%, SDRL +1.7%, RIG +1.6%, WLL +0.8%

Other news: AVEO +10.5% (Cigna (CI) announces will now cover Biodesix' Veristat), DRNA +8.2% (presented preliminary safety and efficacy data from DCR-MYC Phase 1 study in patients with advanced solid tumors at ASCO: Evidence of clinical anti-tumor activity seen in two patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors), HTGC +7.2% (announced that Robert Lake has joined the Co as chief credit officer), YGE +5.8% (announces it has been chosen as a preferred supplier to Vivint Solar (VSLR)), PLUG +5.6% (announces an expansion contract with Walmart (WMT) Canada), YOKU +4.9% (partners with Disney (DIS) for its Marvel marketing platform in China), NQ +2.6% (still checking), TS +2.5% (issues restatement for 2014), CS +2.4% (still checking), PBR +1.6% (announced the pricing of its 100-year Global Notes denominated in USD), BBRY +1.3% (slightly rebounding following yday's decline)

Analyst comments: VICL +11.9% (initiated with a Buy at ROTH Capital; tgt $4.65), ZION +5.6% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Guggenheim; upgraded to Buy from Underperform at Credit Agricole), SN +2.3% (upgraded to Buy from Accumulate at KLR Group ), BIG +1.8% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays), ONTY +1.3% (postive comments at Mizuho), TTMI +1% (resumed with a Overweight at JP Morgan), WLL +0.7% (initiated with a Buy at Evercore ISI), BUD +0.5% (upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna)

(BFW) Aveva, Hunting, GSK, Hikma Among Most-Shorted May EU M&A Targets

Aveva, Hunting, GSK, Hikma Among Most-Shorted May EU M&A Targets
2015-06-02 12:21:49.154 GMT


By Gaurav Panchal
(Bloomberg) -- Aveva, Hunting had the highest short
interest among potential European takeover targets mentioned in
broker notes, media reports in May.

* Hikma, GlaxoSmithKline saw the biggest rise in short
interest as a % of shares outstanding

HIGHEST SHORT INTEREST:

* Aveva short interest as % of shrs outstanding fell to 2.28%
as of May 29 from 3.1% on May 1
*
* Co.’s largest short positions is held by Bluecrest
Capital (-0.47%) according to filing dated May 26
* May 17: Sunday Times reported Schneider Electric in
talks about possible Aveva bid
*
* May 19: Aveva CEO said not in takeover talks with
speculated suitors


* Hunting short interest as % of shrs outstanding rose to 1.3%
as of May 29 from ~1% on May 1
*
* Co.’s largest short positions is held by Ardevora Asset
Management (-0.6%) according to filing dated March 9
* May 14: Hunting mentioned in merger talk in U.K.
newspapers

BIGGEST 1-Month SI Increase:

* Hikma short interest increased by 256,000 last month, was
0.13% of shrs outstanding on May 1
*
* May 20: Hikma mentioned in merger talk in U.K.
Newspapers


* GlaxoSmithKline short interest increased by 4.3m last month,
was 0.23% of shrs outstanding on May 1
*
* GlaxoSmithKline mentioned in merger talk in U.K.
newspapers

NOTES:

* Cos. mentioned as takeover/merger candidates exclude already
announced approaches/deals, but not rejected/failed deals,
excludes cos mentioned in M&A survey, unless mentioned
elsewhere
* Individual institutional short selling data is sourced from
regulatory fillings, aggregate short interest data sourced
from Markit
* For regulatory filings on short selling, run SPOS<GO>
* Imagination, Lancashire Most-Shorted Among April EU M&A
Targets


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To contact the reporter on this story:
Gaurav Panchal in London at +44-20-3525-0511 or
gpanchal2@bloomberg.net

>>> Cracker Barrel beats by $0.12, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line (

--> +4.8% pre open

Cracker Barrel beats by $0.12, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS in-line (raises FY15 EPS); reaffirms FY15 rev guidance; increases quarterly dividend 10%; declares $3 special dividend

  • Reports Q3 (Apr) earnings of $1.49 per share, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.37; revenues rose 6.3% year/year to $683.7 mln vs the $680.04 mln consensus.
    • Comparable store restaurant sales increased 5.2%, including a 3.4% increase in average check. Average menu prices for the quarter were approximately 2.5% higher than in the prior year quarter. Comparable store retail sales increased 4.5% for the quarter.
  • Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $1.75-1.85 vs. $1.78 Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Co issues guidance for FY15, raises EPS to $6.60-6.70 from $6.40-6.50 vs. $6.55 Capital IQ Consensus; reaffirms FY15 revs of $2.80-2.85 bln vs. $2.84 bln Capital IQ Consensus; projected increases in comparable store restaurant sales of between 4.5% and 5.0%, and comparable store retail sales of between 3.5% and 4.0%.
  • Board of Directors increased the quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share on the Company's common stock, which represents a 10% increase over the Company's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The Board of Directors also declared a special dividend of $3.00 per share on the Company's common stock. Both the quarterly dividend and the special dividend are payable on August 5, 2015, to shareholders of record on July 17, 2015.