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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: WTDEC who wrote (29398)	11/15/1999 9:58:00 PM
From: Louis A. Rawden	Respond to of 32384

Does anybody know if Ligand scheduled a conference call and if they did when it will be?

To: WTDEC who wrote (29398)	11/16/1999 7:40:00 AM
From: Cheryl Galt	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 32384

RE the CBS MarketWatch analysis: $0.39 vs $1.15 Hooray!! "Ligand's net loss of 39 cents a share for 3rd quarter was greater than the 31 cents a share loss expected by analysts but an improvement over the $1.15 per share loss posted the same period last year." This is MUCH better than thinking of it as a 26% negative surprise! <G> -------------------- Ligand's Net Loss in 3Q98 was only $18.306M, vs $46.275M in 3Q99. Terrific improvement, huh? BUT, 3Q98 expenses included a one-time $30M write-off of acquired in-process technology -- due to the Seragen acquisition. Without that 30 million, the 3Q98 Net loss was $16.275M, and the loss per share was only 0.34. SO, the comparable loss per share is really $0.39 vs 0.34. ALSO, this quarter's loss was computed using 7 million more shares than in 3Q98. Without the dilution-fattened denominator, this quarter's loss would have been $0.45. -------------- ALSO, note the rising Interest Expense -- $3.551M vs 1.933M in 3Q98 -- on the Elan Notes. It's rising faster than Ontak's Sales. By the way, the $20 Million additional notes exercised 8/27 (for regular company expenses) make the current Working Capital ($35.5M at quarter end) look viable. (Ten million in Notes remain.) Enough capital for 2 1/2 more quarters of typical losses ... -------------- They say there's three kinds of lies -- and one of them is statistics ... IMO, rational hope for a sustainable rise in Ligand's near-term price is based on good news at the December 13 Committee meeting AND on quick, profitable, off-label commercialization of Targretin -- not on deceitful number games -- or on the shaky balance sheet of an R&D company struggling to transition to independence. Looking toward December 13th, Cheryl