One Way To Look At The Ophthotech-Regeneron Pair Trade

Opthotech Corp OPHT 3.02% shares plummeted 84.6 percent on Monday morning after the company reported negative results in its Phase III OPH1002 and OPH1003 studies. The two combination trials in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) failed to meet primary endpoints.

“We found no material evidence of Fovista efficacy communicated in the press release and therefore model zero probability of success for Fovista going forward,” Chardan Capital analyst Gbola Amusa said in a downgrade note following the news. Chardan Capital cut its rating on Opthotech from Buy to Neutral and slashed its price target for the stock from $200 to $15.

Fortunately for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN 1.32%investors, Opthotech’s failure eliminates a potential threat to Regeneron’s Eylea wet AMD market. Shares of Regeneron are up 5 percent on Monday.

Amusa has upgraded Regeneron from Sell to Neutral following the Opthotech news and boosted Chardan’s price target from $300 to $350.

The bad news from Opthotech certainly caught…

Click here to continue reading

Want to learn more about how to profit off the stock market? Or maybe you just want to be able to look sophisticated in front of your coworkers when they ask you what you are reading on your Kindle, and you’d prefer to tell them “Oh, I’m just reading a book about stock market analysis,” rather than the usual “Oh, I’m just looking at pics of my ex-girlfriend on Facebook.” For these reasons and more, check out my book, Beating Wall Street with Common SenseI don’t have a degree in finance; I have a degree in neuroscience. You don’t have to predict what stocks will do if you can predict what traders will do and be one step ahead of them. I made a 400% return in the stock market over five years using only basic principles of psychology and common sense. Beating Wall Street with Common Sense is now available on Amazon, and tradingcommonsense.com is always available on your local internet!