Why Valeant, Progenics, Ryerson, Zafgen and TerraForm Are On The Move Today

U.S stocks headed back into the green on Wednesday, helped by strong earnings reports from the tech sector and a rebound in oil prices, driven by a slightly higher than expected decline in crude inventories. A few stocks posting relevant moves today included Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX), Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGNX), Ryerson Holding Corp (NYSE:RYI), Zafgen Inc (NASDAQ:ZFGN), and TerraForm Global Inc (NASDAQ:GLBL). Let’s take a look into the events behind the movement in these stocks and  see what the funds in our database think about these companies.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 765 hedge funds and other institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year (see more details about our small-cap strategy).

Progenics and Valeant Spike On Relistor Approval

Let’s start with Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGNX), which has gained 23.41% on Wednesday after the FDA approved an oral formulation of RELISTOR (methylnaltrexone bromide) for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation in adults with chronic non-cancer pain. Also benefiting from the news is exclusive licensee Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX), which is up by more than 4.6% today. The company expects to start marketing the drug in the U.S some time in the third quarter of the year. Furthermore, another piece of news helping Valeant was the FDA’s approval of its psoriosis treatment Brodalumab, on the condition that it takes measures to mitigate suicide risk through effective labeling and development of a suicide risk management plan.

71 funds in our database were long Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) at the end of the first quarter, including Bill Ackman‘s Pershing Square, which held a stake comprising 21.59 million shares. For its part, Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGNX) counted the support of 14 funds in our database on March 31, including Kevin Kotler’s Broadfin Capital, which declared holding almost 9 million shares of the company as of that date.

We’ll dig into the latest news concerning three other stocks on the next page.

Ryerson Hit By Offer Pricing

Shares of Ryerson Holding Corp (NYSE:RYI) are trading down by almost 13% on Wednesday afternoon after the company priced a follow-on offering of common shares at $15.25, or a 6% discount to Tuesday’s closing price. The small-cap, which has had a very strong year, plummeted this week after it announced the offering on Monday.

Only three funds among those that we track were long Ryerson Holding Corp (NYSE:RYI) at the end of the first quarter. Their combined stakes accounted for just 1.4% of the company’s float on March 31.

Zafgen Sinks As It Dumps Beloranib

Next up is Zafgen Inc (NASDAQ:ZFGN), which has tumbled by more than 51% in Wednesday trading after the company announced that it would suspend its beloranib anti-obesity program. Instead, the firm decided to move forward with its drug candidate ZGN-1061, a MetAP2 inhibitor. In connection with this decision, management said it would cut its workforce by 34% by the end of the year.

Negative news aside, 11 funds in our database held long positions in Zafgen Inc (NASDAQ:ZFGN) by the end of the first quarter, owning about 1/5 of the outstanding stock of the company. James E. Flynn’s Deerfield Management held a notable stake of more than 3.00 million shares of the company on March 31.

Bankrupt SunEdison To Sell Its Stake In TerraForm?

Finally, there’s TerraForm Global Inc (NASDAQ:GLBL), which is up more than 10% on Wednesday afternoon. The spike was triggered by reports that Sunedison Inc (OTCMKTS:SUNEQ) is in talks to sell its controlling stake in the renewable energy company. On Tuesday, TerraForm said it was discussing “a jointly managed sales process and accompanying protocol for managing the marketing process.”

As of the end of the first quarter, 23 funds in our database were long TerraForm Global Inc (NASDAQ:GLBL), including Wilmot B. Harkey and Daniel Mack’s Nantahala Capital Management, which held 403,226 TerraForm shares on March 31.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no interest in any of the securities or entities mentioned in this article.