Boston, MA 11/01/2013 (wallstreetpr) – American oncology major Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) stocks continued their downward spiral with an upward 65 million shares transacted after recent legal developments around the company’s arraigned recent class action lawsuit filed by law firm Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP.
Ariad stocks have been hurtling downward with intermittent buoyancy over the last three months, starting around $18 in July end. A recent humongous 66% drop ensued on October 9, after the U.S. apex body Food and Drug Administration (FDA) temporarily stalled Ariad’s Iclusig pill trials and sales amidst reports of some test patients showing arterial blood clot symptoms and other negative conditions. The stocks are currently around the $2 mark. The growing pharmaceutical player, which filed for SEC Form 8-K – Other Events, Financial Statements and Exhibits this week, has its main business stemming from medicinal research & development, discovery, development and commercial sales of medication for patients afflicted by cancer, among other medicine manufacturing. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based drug maker’s earnings per share fell by about 19.4% in the third quarter compared to the corresponding FY2012 quarter, continuing their downward graph with occasional ups in the past two years. The company’s dismal results of -$1.34 in earnings per share from -$0.93 a year ago are expected to further deteriorate by next year from the current -$1.34 by roughly 20.9% to -$1.62. Net income dropped by a significant 34.4% compared to the same quarter the year before, from -$51.31 million to -$68.99 million.
Compared to other companies of the biotechnology sector, Ariad has significantly underperformed the industry average in addition to the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index with the only relief – its cash flow growth rate – which has stayed above the industry average, although the stocks have cascaded by 84% approximately over the past 12 months.
Thursday’s trade saw Ariad stocks post a $2.20 close on NASDAQ, a further 44.44% dip from its last close of $3.96, while after-hours trading registered a small 1.82% jump to $2.24.
