Why Seattle Genetics Shares Dropped Then Rallied

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of biotech company Seattle Genetics (Nasdaq: SGEN  ) have had a wild ride this morning following its first-quarter earnings results. After being down 10% early in the trading session, shares are up more than 2% as of this writing.

So what: For the quarter, Seattle Genetics reported a near-quadrupling in sales to $48.2 million as the company sold $34.5 million worth of its cancer drug Adcetris, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in August for the treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Its quarterly loss came in at $0.11 per share. Although the loss met Wall Street's estimates, sales estimates for Adcetris fell about $3 million shy of the consensus. For the year, Seattle Genetics forecast Adcetris sales of $140 million-$150 million and collaboration/licensing revenue of $55 million-$65 million.

Now what: Despite the sales miss, RBC Capital told investors this morning that any dip in Seattle Genetics shares is a buying opportunity, as it expects the company to report positive data at the ASCO conference. That may be partly responsible for the strength in its share price since it opened significantly lower this morning. As for me, I see Seattle Genetics as largely range-bound until it can produce that elusive quarterly profit.

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