Priceline, Illumina trade in line; Medivation, Isis in focus; Prospect Capital bid lower

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Aug. 26 – Priceline Group Inc. and Illumina Inc. convertibles were trading flat, or in line with their underlying shares, on Tuesday amid generally quiet market action. Both the primary and secondary markets seem to have been put on hold until after the Labor Day holiday and the unofficial end of summer.

Market players that weren’t taking their end of August break were looking at the upward draft in stocks, but also the low stock-trading volume, which translated into the moves not being terribly significant.

“People are still out of the office,” a Connecticut-based sellsider said.

Priceline’s $1 billion of 0.9% convertibles, which priced earlier this month, settled basically unchanged at 98.375 bid, 98.625 offered on Tuesday versus shares that were fractionally higher at $1,277.52, a New York-based trader said.

The trader said his firm was relatively active in Priceline, but he pointed out that everything was very quiet, and “too quiet,” in fact, “to decide one way or the other” which way pricing was going.

The Priceline 1% convertibles were seen on Trace data changing hands down 1.25 points at 145.5.

Medivation Inc.’s 2.625% convertibles due 2017 were also pretty active Tuesday after the issue jumped in tandem with the underlying shares of the San Francisco-based drug developer on Monday, and pricing remained higher on Tuesday at about 177, which was up from about 171 for the bonds.

Medivation shares remained near the flat line at $88.62 on Tuesday after jumping on Monday. The stock has added almost 12% in the last month.

Other biotechnology convertible names were also in focus on the heels of a 50-point run in InterMune Inc.’s 2.5% convertibles on Monday on news that Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche AG has offered to buy the California-based biotechnology company for a 35% premium to where shares had been trading.

With that in mind, Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s convertibles were in focus amid an 11% jump in the underlying shares of the Carlsbad, Calif.-based drug company. The Isis 2.75% convertibles due 2019 were seen jumping to 248.62 from 228.85 previously, according to a market source. Isis shares surged $3.89, or 11%, to $40.01.

Elsewhere, Prospect Capital Corp.’s $400 million of 4.75% convertibles, which priced initially in April, traded and were “hanging in pretty well,” despite lower shares following earnings that missed estimates, a market source said.

The bid on the Prospect Capital 4.75% convertible was down 0.125 point, and that paper was quoted at 98.375 bid, 98.75 offered versus a share price of $10.56.

Late Monday, the Prospect Capital 4.75% convertibles traded at 98.5. The paper originally priced in April at a discounted reoffer price of 97.75.

Prospect Capital shares were down 42 cents, or 3.8% at $10.56 by the end of the session, paring some of its earlier loss.

Mentioned in this article:

Illumina Inc. Nasdaq: ILMN

InterMune Inc. Nasdaq: ITMN

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. Nasdaq: ISIS

Medivation Inc. Nasdaq: MDVN

Priceline Group Inc. Nasdaq: PCLN

Prospect Capital Corp. Nasdaq: PSEC

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.