Amgen, Esperion, AmTrust Financial and More: What is Going On With These Falling Stocks?

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Although all three major indexes have rebounded into the green this afternoon, shares of five companies, Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), Esperion Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ESPR), The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO), AmTrust Financial Services Inc (NASDAQ:AFSI), and Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) are in the red. In this article, let’s find out what is causing each stock to fall and analyze elite fund sentiment towards them.

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Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) has fallen more than 6% after the company released the results from the FOURIER study of Repatha. Although the study met the key endpoint, expectations of risk reduction (of 20-22% versus placebo versus the actual result of 15%) were apparently higher for the cholesterol lowering drug. Given that Repatha is a very expensive drug, many thought the results had to be very convincing, rather than just convincing for the drug to be a market success. Due to the news, Michael Yee of RBC Capital thinks Amgen shares might not rally in the short term, but will eventually grind back higher over time. Of the 742 elite funds we track, 60 funds owned $1.96 billion of Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and accounted for 1.80% of the float on December 31, versus 59 funds and $1.86 billion respectively on September 30.

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Esperion Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ESPR) and The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO) are both down due to the previously mentioned Amgen news. Both companies are trying to bring drugs that reduce cardiovascular disease to the market. Both companies have also been defended by analysts today. In terms of Esperion, Chad Messer of Needham thinks the sell-off is unwarranted as he thinks the company’s Bempedoic acid will be lower priced, and thus less comparable to Repatha. Meanwhile, Joseph Schwartz of Leerink reaffirms his ‘Outperform’ rating on The Medicine Co, citing Repatha’s clear clinical benefit, which could potentially lead to inclisiran being clinically successful as well. 8 and 23 elite funds were long Esperion Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ESPR) and The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO) at the end of December, respectively.

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On the next page, we find out why AmTrust Financial Services Inc and Bank of America Corp are in the red.


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