Biotech Ideas: Top Biotech Stocks with Bullish Institutional Trends

The biotech business is shrouded with uncertainty – from awaiting FDA decisions or the results of a clinical trial, or from determining whether the company can even capitalize on its latest scientific discovery – and this uncertainty is reflected in how quickly investors change their minds about biotech firms.

Because of how easily day-to-day changes can affect stock prices, many investors consider this industry too difficult to track. We can therefore assume that qualified investors who brave the sector are keeping a very close watch on it.

Applying Institutional Buying Trends

Interested to know what informed investors are thinking about a stock? One of the most telling indicators is net institutional purchases. Institutions, such as hedge funds and investment banks often invest hundreds of thousands of dollars or more at one time.

Regular investors pay attention to what institutional investors do because if they are willing to handle such large amounts of money it is easy enough to assume that they know what they are doing — or at the very least know more than the average investor. This is why these investors are also sometimes referred to as “smart money.”

If institutional investors start investing in a company, regular investors can assume that some of the most talented analysts and money managers expect the company’s share prices to increase over time.

The (Bullish) List

We ran a screen on the biotech industry for stocks seeing the most significant net buying from institutional investors in the current quarter, indicating they believe there is more upside to these names.

Interactive Chart: Use the Compar-O-Matic to compare analyst ratings for the first nine stocks mentioned below.

“Smart money” investors are feeling bullish about these biotech companies – do you agree with their optimism?

1. Amyris, Inc. (AMRS, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Offers renewable compounds for a variety of markets. Market cap of $525.65M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.7M, which is 19.14% of the company’s 14.11M share float.

2. VIVUS Inc. (VVUS, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Engages in the development and commercialization of therapeutic products for underserved markets in the United States. Market cap of $866.58M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 9.8M, which is 17.10% of the company’s 57.30M share float.

3. InterMune Inc. (ITMN, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Focuses on developing and commercializing therapies in pulmonology and hepatology. Market cap of $825.43M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 7.9M, which is 14.97% of the company’s 52.77M share float.

4. Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SVNT, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Focuses on developing KRYSTEXXA, a biologic PEGylated uricase in the United States. Market cap of $159.38M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 5.1M, which is 9.20% of the company’s 55.46M share float.

5. Bacterin International Holdings, Inc. (BONE, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Develops, manufactures, and markets biologics products in the United States and internationally. Market cap of $116.09M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.3M, which is 9.13% of the company’s 25.18M share float.

6. Agenus Inc. (AGEN, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Develops and commercializes immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. Market cap of $42.68M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 1.6M, which is 8.45% of the company’s 18.93M share float.

7. Cytokinetics, Incorporated (CYTK, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Engages in the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics that modulate muscle function for the potential treatment of serious diseases and medical conditions. Market cap of $69.39M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 3.5M, which is 7.17% of the company’s 48.81M share float.

8. BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BPAX, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Develops products for female sexual health and oncology. Market cap of $55.01M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 7.0M, which is 6.60% of the company’s 106.11M share float.

9. Seattle Genetics Inc. (SGEN, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Focuses on the development and commercialization of monoclonal antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases in the United States. Market cap of $1.92B. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 7.1M, which is 6.26% of the company’s 113.40M share float.

10. Oncothyreon Inc (ONTY, Earnings, Analysts, Financials): Focuses on the development of therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer. Market cap of $323.51M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.1M, which is 5.67% of the company’s 37.06M share float.

(Written by Rebecca Lipman. Data sourced from Finviz.)

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