Dallas, Texas 12/16/2013 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) is an $3.66 billion market capped drug maker which has seen stock come under strong selling pressure at the browsers over the past week. In the past 5 days of trading the stock has diminished in market value by 18.8 percent in addition to the 12.2 percent that the stock lost in the past one month.
The selloff in the stock was triggered by reports of investment firm Lakewood Capital Management voicing aspirations on the published potential of Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) drug pipeline and a bigger question mark on the firm’s investment initiatives earlier last week. The stock at the time of close of business on December 13 was trading at $8.97 per share which is 4.7 percent down from its previous day close. At current pricing the stock is trading 30 percent lower than its 52 week high price points of $12.97 per share.
Readers should note that this drug maker has managed to post sales of $92 million in the past 12 months and has accumulated net loss of $99 million in the same period. It has also managed to post operational margin loss of 58 percent over the trailing 12 months.
In an attempt to shore up the stock and at the same time try and disabuse the spreading rumours about its pipeline weakness, the top executives of Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) have announced that they will be addressing a investor confidence on December 17 in New York, during which they will make it clear that the reports emanating from firm Lakewood Capital Management are wrong and are based on “distorted and inaccurate information”. They are also expected to reiterate their commitment to develop and commercialize their target drugs over the next few quarters.