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 Synta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SNTA), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs to treat cancer and other inflammatory diseases, sank as much as 17% after reporting its fourth-quarter earnings results and filing a mixed shelf offering.
So what: For the quarter, Synta reported no revenue (remember, it is still a clinical-stage company) and a loss of $18.1 million ($0.29 per share), up from a loss of $10.7 million in the year-ago period. Synta ended the year with $100.6 million in cash, which includes the $59.8 million it raised from a direct stock offering in December to its directors, and anticipates it has sufficient cash to get through the second quarter of 2014. In addition to this report, Synta filed a mixed shelf offering, which would allow it to sell up to $300 million worth of stock or other financial instruments from time to time.
Now what: Despite the earnings report which attempted to focus on the advancement of its Hsp90 inhibitor, ganetespib, as a second-line treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer, investors chose to focus on Synta's continued dash for cash. Synta's really only managed to buy itself another six-to-eight months of cash burn with its December offering. Today's mixed-shelf offering signals that Synta will continue to issues shares as it sees fit to keep its operations running. Although that could be a good thing is ganetespib excels in trials, it likely means more dilution is on the way for shareholders.
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