Why Chiron is dumping onxx is a mystery that only their board knows, but there are some credible theories. I hate to admit it, but I found a good one on the Yahoo board The url is messages.yahoo.com@m2.yahoo.com.
In response to the question, "Does anyone know when Chiron began selling?", bstee wrote,
The earliest I see is 9/17/97. That's before the completion of Phase II trials. It appears the selling has been steady ever since. I wouldn't let that effect my opinion.
Keep in mind that Chiron is a publicly held company. As such they are tied to increasing profits every single quarter. Onyx pays no dividend so that investment sits on the books as dead money right now. If Chiron were convinced that the price would move up - in a given quarter - then they may hold for the rise.
As it stands, the public requires, actually demands, immediate returns and holding a non-productive stock will drag down the company.
Interesting thought is, Chiron "assisted" Onyx in the funding. They must have some confidence or they would have never made the initial investment. Onyx, it would appear, now would "owe" Chiron for that investment and may be well rewarded once Phase III is completed. This is actually very shrewed as they have an immediate return by selling shares on a steady basis and they have the partnership in place for a potentially explosive product.
This is, of course, all in my opinion. Holding for the long term, BSTEE |
