I have to say that, in general, I'm in favor of the low profile PR route that VVUS is persuing. I usually short companies that hype their product, and those that let the numbers speak I buy. I must confess that in regard to free advertising like that in Newsweek it seems someone has fallen down on the job; but with respect to PR pieces put out by competitors like Senetek, there's little you can do to horn your way in on 'em. And I don't see sufficient grounds for arguing that VVUS should be flushing out a lot of cash in their advertising budget right now.
Although it would be nice for me right now as far as my trading position is concerned for VVUS to be out there hyping away, I do not see the value in doing so at this point as far as the business is concerned (and not the interests of transients who plan on holding the shares for perhaps a week or two). There is no reason to throw money away as far as the biz (not the stock) is concerned. In the short term VVUS is selling all it can make and has a hammerlock on sales for the next few quarters. And then when/if an oral treatment does hit the market, then MUSE will settle back to its lucrative, yet niche, role. MUSE will then not be a first line therapy, it will not bring them into the office, but they may leave the office with it thanks to the doctor and dissatisfaction with orals. The only reason to advertise now is to bring general awareness to the issue of ED and that treatments today are superior. MUSE doesn't need to get brand name awareness, because it will never be a particularly appealing solution- it will be a solid, firm, great fall back therapy. Anyway, there's a lot more to be said right now, but the gist of it is there is no reason for VVUS to be hyping their product at this point unless you're a dusgruntled long who is only in it for the ultra short term. Relax about this and focus on the real problems: plant approval and UK approval- that's what disturbs me as a long.
A last qualification- if VVUS is considering a buyout of another company and plans on using stock for an acquisition, then they really have screwed up as far as PR is concerned since the stock has been damaged near term. But we have little reason to believe this at the moment. Even if an acquisition were to occur, VVUS has a heck of a lot of cash right now and how big a role stock would ever play is a question.
Anaxagoras |
