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

To: Henry Niman who wrote (27529)	1/22/1999 7:56:00 AM
From: Mudcat	Respond to of 32384

<Are we supposed to look at the improvement in percentage terms?> I really cannot say if going from -.45 to -.12 is improvement because I do not know what effect the milestone payments had on the earnings and what the burn rate was for 4Q. If Lgnd received the payments they were planning to receive earlier in the year (2-3Q) their burn rate could still have been higher than in previous quarters, it is just hidden by the bunching of milestone payments into this quarter. Lgnd's earnings have major swings at this stage (prior to sales) because of the unpredictability of milestone payments. Therefore earnings (or in Lgnds case the amt of losses) should not be used as the sole indicator of saying there has been quite an improvement in Lgnd's financial status. Many other factors need to be analyzed. Panretin and ONTAK are still not approved and every day approval slips makes the profitability in 1999 more remote. Let me ask you some questions Mr. Data Analysis Expert. Do you know what the burn rate was for the 4Q? Do you know how many one time milestone payments were received? Will milestone payments continue to come in next quarter? What is "Company Sleuth" and how accurate have their whisper numbers been in the past? I am just trying to tell you that going from -.45 to -.12 does not necessarily mean improvement unless many other factors are taken into account and added to the analysis. Number crunches can make bottom line numbers in a quarter look better than the overall outlook is. I am also aware that you and you yea-sayers will rip apart this post and only comment on the parts that help with you hype. Ignoring the facts and pushing only what you want to believe is typical Hank N. I'm sure Slick Willie has a job for you Hank.