Why These 5 Stocks Are Trending Ahead of Earnings Season Kickoff

After gaining 35% on April 7 following an analyst upgrade from H.C. Wainwright, shares of Viking Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VKTX) gave up all of those gains and more on April 8 after the company announced a public offering of 7.5 million units of common stock. The roller coaster ride continues for Viking Therapeutics’ shareholders today, as the stock is back in the good graces of investors following the release of positive data from the company’s Phase 1b trial on VK2809 in subjects with mild hypercholesterolemia.

The study, which involved 56 subjects, showed a statistically meaningful reduction in the LDL (bad) cholesterol levels of the subjects, of up to 41.2% after just 14 days of treatment. The treatment was also found to be safe and well-tolerated at the 5mg and 20mg doses studied. Shares of Viking Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VKTX) have gained nearly 6% today on the news. Viking Therapeutics was not in the portfolios of any of the investors in our database as of December 31.

Lastly we come to Insys Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:INSY), which is down by 22% this morning after the company issued disappointing first quarter revenue estimates for Subsys, its fentanyl sublingual spray for cancer pain relief. Prescription volumes were down during the quarter, with the company predicting quarterly revenue of $61 million-to-$62 million, while analysts had predicted just over $86 million in revenue. The company believes that a national backlash against the overuse of opioid painkillers likely contributed to the lower volume of prescriptions during the quarter, but believes this decline is now stabilizing. There were reportedly 28,647 drug overdose deaths linked to opioids in the U.S in 2014, up by 200% since 2000.

20 funds in our database held about 25% of Insys Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:INSY) shares on December 31. Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich’s Scopia Capital reported upping its stake in the stock to 7.43 million shares through a filing released on March 10, up from 5.82 million shares at the end of 2015.

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