Small
cap stocks making big moves on Monday, April 21, 2014 (as of 4 pm EST)
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT)
shares surged 39% to $33.98 on volume of more than 12.6 million shares Monday as
the developer of RNA-based therapeutics announced that it would submit a
new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration for its experimental Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment
by year end. The pharmaceutical company said it received a letter from the FDA
stating that “with additional data to support the efficacy and safety of
eteplirsen for the treatment of DMD, an NDA should be fileable.” Piper Jaffray
also raised its price target for Sarepta shares to $37 from $19.
As well,
shares of Cbeyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBEY)
climbed 39% to $9.81 on more than 11.9 million shares traded after Birch
Communications, Inc. reported that it would purchase the IT infrastructure
manager for small and mid-sized businesses for approximately $323 million,
or about $10 a share.
Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTM),
meanwhile, said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sanofi’s
Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine (CTRM) business for $6.5 million, with
$4 million payable in cash at closing and $2.5 million payable in the form of a
promissory note. Aastrom is a developer of patient-specific, expanded
multicellular therapies for the treatment of severe, chronic cardiovascular
diseases. Aastrom Biosciences stock popped 24% to $4.38.
Finally,
Walter Energy, Inc. (NYSE: WLT)
shares slipped 9% to $7.24 after Goldman Sach downgraded the metallurgical coal
producer’s stock to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ citing potential liquidity issues,
and believes the $250 million asset sale goal will be difficult to achieve. Goldman
also lowered its price target on Walter shares to $5 from $9.
