What happened
Adamas Pharmaceuticals (ADMS) closed up 21% on Monday, after Point72 Asset Management disclosed in an SEC document on Friday after the bell that it boosted its stake in the drugmaker.
So what
The fund now owns 1,144,000 shares of Adamas, and Point72's associated fund, Cubist Systematic Strategies, owns another 1,200, giving Steven Cohen, who runs the management company, a 5.1% control of the Adamas' shares.
It's understandable that investors would want to follow Cohen's trades, considering his smart investments have generally outpaced his not-so-smart ones. But the problem with following a guru based on SEC documents is that investors can't tell when the purchase was made or at what price. It's possible that Point72 bought a majority of the shares before the FDA approved Adamas' Parkinson's disease drug Gocovri in August, and the fund is just waiting to take its profits with no plans to become a long-term shareholder. Ironically, for all we know, today's jump in the stock price because Point72 disclosed that it owns shares could be what pushes Point72 to lighten its stake or sell out altogether. And we wouldn't know that until the group files another SEC document disclosing that it doesn't own shares.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
While Point72's news is causing short-term movement of the share price, the long-term price will be determined by the sales of Gocovri.
Investors will get an update on the launch of Gocovri when Adamas Pharmaceuticals releases third-quarter earnings on Thursday. When Gocovri was approved, Adamas said it planned to launch the drug in the fourth quarter and deploy a full sales force in January 2018. The company has already set up a patient-support program called Gocovri Onboard that is collecting information from potential patients and prescribers, which will hopefully help the company hit the ground running when the drug becomes available.
