Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, clinical-stage biotechnology company Arena Pharmaceuticals
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Arena's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Arena facts
| Headquarters (founded) | San Diego, Calif. (1997) |
| Market Cap | $499.8 million |
| Industry | Biotechnology |
| Trailing-12-Month Revenue | $11 million |
| Management | Co-Founder/Chairman/CEO Dr. Jack Lief Co-Founder/Chief Scientific Officer Dominic Behan |
| Return on Capital (average, past 3 years) | (33.4%) |
| Cash/Debt | $88.2 million / $87.8 million |
| Competitors |
GlaxoSmithKline Orexigen Therapeutics VIVUS |
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 9% of the 689 members who have rated Arena believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward.
Just yesterday, one of those bears, biotech expert zzlangerhans, offered a couple of reasons to bet against the approval of Arena's obesity drug lorcaserin:
One is that while the actual meeting doesn't take place until May 10, the FDA will release briefing documents on May 8. I think while the committee vote is a toss-up, the briefing documents are much more likely to be negative and drive the share price downward. ...
The second reason is that I want to be on [Adam Feuerstein's] side of this call. While his detractors endlessly point to the same incorrect or partially incorrect calls after years have passed, Feuerstein has continued make confident predictions the vast majority of which prove to be accurate. Some recent beauties are the abject failure and impending bankruptcy of Radient Pharmaceuticals, the downward trajectory of Biosante, and of course the negative result of the phase III trial of perifosine for Keryx and Aeterna Zentaris.
If you want market-topping returns, you need to protect your portfolio from any undue risk. Luckily, we've found another stock we are incredibly excited about -- excited enough to dub it "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012." We have compiled a special free report for investors to uncover this stock today. The report is 100% free, but it won't be here forever, so click here to access it now.
Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the new TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.
