February Fundamental Trades: Month-End Updates

These updates will be available to subscribers only starting in April. 

In all cases, SLM, GM, CELG, and NBIX, we are holding our sold puts, even though all but NBIX are below their strike values.  We want to own these stocks, and we may by March expiration.  There was only one piece of fundamental news.

CELG received an refuse to file (RTF) from the FDA on their prized pipeline drug, ozanimod, designed to treat MS.  Dave stated that this will likely set the launch of this drug back approximately a year, but because the RTF wasn’t issued for a safety reason, it will not hurt chances for approval that much. 

That being said, my personal feelings are that this points to management issues. From a large biotech company, this is usually avoided by constant communication with the FDA and thorough disclosure in the filings. While the CELG fundamental case changes very little, I am put on alert, and I think management needs to prove themselves a little bit here.  I would still own CELG at these levels, but am put more on alert.