Brad, so much for a quiet period... and congratulations on this wonderful long pick.
I partially covered this morning on strength and will short again soon.
Wu Ying
News Alert from Dow Jones Online News via Quote.com
Topic: Aviron
Quote.com News Item #3622803
Headline: Aviron Stock Up 20% In Response To Road Show Presentations
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NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Shares of Aviron rose to a 52-week high
Monday, apparently fueled by positive sentiment from presentations made
for a public offering by the biopharmaceutical company.
Aviron shares (AVIR) rose $5.25, or 20%, to $32 on Nasdaq volume of
1.1 million, compared with average daily volume of 275,900. The shares
traded as high as $32.75 earlier, passing the 52-week high of $27.75 set
last week.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company plans to use proceeds for
clinical trials, manufacturing and marketing of its influenza nasal
spray vaccine, and for research and development. The offering is being
managed by Robertson Stephens & Co.
Sands Brothers & Co. analyst Michael Goldberg said the shares may be
rallying on the strength of Aviron's road show presentations to
securities firms in support of its upcoming public stock offering.
A Robertson Stephens & Co. trader agreed that the shares are probably
rising on the presentations, as she did not know of any other reason for
the stock activity.
On July 25, Aviron filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
to offer 2.5 million common shares.
Goldberg said the company, which does research and development on a
number of vaccines, has been making a series of presentations to attract
interest to its offering. Aviron made presentations in Europe last week
and is in New York this week, he said.
Goldberg said Aviron indicated that if it can get an 8% market share
among children and less than 10% among adults by 2001 for its flu
vaccine, it should be able to meet its underwriters' earnings estimates
for 2001.
Goldberg did not know what those numbers are. He said that they
probably wouldn't be far off his projections. He estimates that Aviron
will post losses of $2.02 a share in 1999 and 44 cents a share in 2000,
and will earn $2.15 a share in 2001. Goldberg did not have estimates for
1997 and 1998.
Aviron officials could not be reached for comment.
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