David Maris leaves BOA. Could the BVF mess have anything to do with it?
biz.yahoo.com
"Analyst Maris Leaves Bank of America
Monday December 18, 1:26 pm ET
Drug Company Analyst Maris Leaves Bank of America Unit
TORONTO (AP) -- David Maris, a top-ranked drug company analyst, has left Banc of America Securities, a unit of Bank of America.
Brandon C. Ashcraft, a spokesman for the firm, confirmed that, as of Friday, Maris is no longer employed by Bank of America. However, he said the company's policy is to not elaborate on personnel matters.
He did say that one of Maris's former associates will pick up coverage of Labopharm Inc. and Penn West Pharmaceuticals Co., while another associate will cover Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corp. and Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Other stocks that he followed, such as Alcon Inc., Allergan Inc., King Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Mylan Laboratories Inc., won't be covered at this time, he added.
Maris, who was ranked the number one specialty pharma analyst for six years in a row by the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team, also covered Biovail Corp., Canada's largest publicly traded pharmaceutical company, until April.
However, he dropped coverage of the stock a couple of months after Biovail launched a $4.6 billion lawsuit against a group of hedge funds and analysts -- in which Maris was named as a defendent -- alleging a massive stock-manipulation scheme.
Biovail and Maris butted heads from the start, as his opening report on the company in October 2003, in which he slapped a "sell" rating on the stock, took shots at the company's accounting practices and earnings quality, among other things.
Before joining Banc of America Securities in 2003, Maris was an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston." |
