ORTC -- Here's an interesting biotech that's been basing for the last month, near its 52-week high. The company is in tissue-engineering (skin, bone, ligament, cartilage, blood vessels, heart muscle). I'm hoping to write up my DD later today or this weekend, but just wanted to give a quick heads up because several potential catalysts are coming:
(1) ORTC has a FDA decision coming on its Composite Cultured Skin product for four separate uses: approval means that CCS can be marketed commercially in the U.S. A 22 Nov 1999 PR announced that ORTC could expect to learn the result as early as mid-February, under a Humanitarian Device Exemption that the FDA granted ORTC in order to accelerate the review process.
biz.yahoo.com
(2) ORTC will appear at the Cruttenden Roth Growth Stock Conference next week, 21-23 Feb 2000, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Laguna Niguel, California.
newsalert.com
(3) ORTC recently extended the expiration date of its Class B Warrants, which carry a strike price of $15, to 31 March 2000.
biz.yahoo.com
ORTC has a market cap of about $90 million (8.2 million shares outstanding; float 1.7 million shares). Pequot Capital Management is the largest shareholder with about 2.15 million shares. George Soros, through various funds, owns about 1.3 million shares, which he mostly purchased in 1997-1998 at prices up to $22/share.
One caution: the daily trading volume on this stock is very low, so it'll move a bit on attempts to buy. With the small float and relative illiquidity, though, good news could send this north in a hurry. (Of course, bad news could send it south just as fast!)
Details to come, but IMO worth putting on your biotech watch lists. |
