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 Antares Pharma (ATRS), a pharmaceutical company focused on developing self-administered injectable and transdermal products, dove as much as 10% after announcing the resignation of CEO Paul K. Wotton.
So what: According to the pre-market press release from Antares, Wotton informed the board of directors of his resignation as CEO and from Antares' board of directors, as well as his plans to assume the position of CEO for a development-stage biotechnology company. In response, Antares appointed Eamonn Hobbs to CEO. If the name sounds somewhat familiar it's because he was previously the CEO of both Delcath Systems and AngioDynamics. Hobbs has been on Antares' board of directors for two months shy of five years. Any time there's a major change in leadership it's always possible a company could temporarily lose its focus, and that's the primary reason for today's drop.
Now what: Although Antares was lucky enough to have a very solid replacement lined up for Wotton, investors have to wonder what made Wotton choose to leave Antares now to join a development-stage biotech company. The sudden resignation only serves to throw caution to the wind right as Antares' sales are beginning to rapidly pick up. In fact, according to Wall Street estimates Antares could be profitable on an annual basis as soon as next year. With a number of high profile partners and in-house developments I personally see a potentially bright future ahead for Antares, but do understand that short-term headwinds caused by Wotton's departure could create some additional downside.
