Morning Buzz: Sapient Corp. (SAPE), Nymox Pharmaceutical (NYMX), Twitter (TWTR), Threshold Pharmaceuticals (THLD), Geron Corporation (GERN)

Sapient Corp. (SAPE) is a big mover this pre-market session, as its shares are up more than 42%. The surge came after the company announced that French advertising group Publicis SA agreed to pay $3.7 billion in cash for the U.S.-based digital ad specialist company.

As part of the deal, Sapient stockholders will receive $25 for each share, the companies said today, a 44% premium to Sapient’s closing price on October 31. The deal, which comes six months after the collapse of Publicis’ $35 billion merger with Omnicom Group (OMC), has been approved by the boards of both companies.

Sapient shares, which recently gained $7.34 to $24.66, are currently valued at $2.46B with a median Wall Street price target of $19.00 and a high target of $19.50. In the last 12 months shares of Boston, Massachusetts-based company have traded between a low of $12.85 and a high of $17.95 with the 50-day MA and 200-day MA located at $14.49 and $15.37 levels, respectively. Additionally, shares of SAPE trade at a P/E ratio of 1.82 and have a Relative Strength Index (RSI) and MACD indicator of 82.43 and +1.99, respectively.

SAPE currently prints a one year return of about 9.55%, and a year-to-date loss of around 0.23%.
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Nymox Pharmaceutical (NYMX) stock is getting crushed, down 85%, shaving $4.42 off its stock prices in early trade Monday after the company announced that its two Phase 3 U.S. studies of NX-1207 for the treatment of BPH, NX02-0017 and NX02-0018, failed to meet their primary efficacy endpoints. Nymox said the full results will be reported at a later date. The company however, said it will hold a teleconference for shareholders at 4:30 pm ET. The phone number to call for the teleconference is 1-866-436-9172 for U.S and 1-630-691-2760 for Canada and International. The confirmation number: 38420531.

Nymox CEO, Paul Averback, said in a statement that the “two studies failed to meet the pre-specified efficacy endpoints. Drug safety was acceptable. Drug efficacy reached levels similar to earlier studies but was not statistically significant in comparison to the placebo control due to a higher placebo response than in earlier NX-1207 studies and in other placebo-controlled BPH studies. The compound remains promising for low grade localized prostate cancer where the Phase 2 results showed evidence that NX-1207 treatment had a positive effect on biopsy results and clinical and biochemical progression.”

NYMX shares recently hit $0.72 per share. The stock is down more than 26.99% year-over-year and has lost roughly 15.32% year-to-date. In the past 52 weeks, shares of Saint-Laurent, Canada-based company have traded between a low of $3.81 and a high of $7.19.

Nymox Pharmaceutical closed Sunday at $5.14. The name has currently a total market cap of $181.96M.
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Analysts at Morgan Stanley (MS) initiated coverage on Twitter (TWTR) with an ‘Equal-weight’ rating and a $42 price target in a research report issued to clients on Monday. Separately, TWTR was also initiated with a ‘Neutral’ and price target of $40 at Monness Crespi & Hardt.

On valuation measures, Twitter, Inc. shares have a PEG and forward P/E ratio of 5.05 and 121.97, respectively. Price/Sales for the same period is 22.01 while EPS is ($1.79). Currently there are 15 analysts that rate TWTR a ‘Buy’, while 19 rate it a ‘Hold’. 1 analyst rates it a ‘Sell’. TWTR has a median Wall Street price target of $53.00 with a high target of $64.00.

In the past 52 weeks, shares of the San Francisco, California-based company have traded between a low of $29.51 and a high of $74.73 and are now at $40.85. Shares are down 7.64 y/y, and 34.85% year-to-date.
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Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. (THLD) ) is a big mover this pre-market session with its shares spiking nearly 30% to $3.80. The move comes after the company today announced that new data from an investigator-sponsored Phase 1/2 trial evaluating the combination of TH-302 and Avastin® (bevacizumab) in patients with bevacizumab-refractory recurrent glioblastoma will be presented in two posters at the 19th Annual Scientific Meeting and Education Day of the Society for Neuro-Oncology held in Miami, Florida, from November 13-16, 2014.

In other THLD news, the company today reported third quarter EPS loss of $0.15, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.13. Revenues fell to $3.7 million vs expected revenues of $4 million.
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Geron Corporation (GERN) shares are currently printing a large uptick, gaining 31% from the previous close. The company announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has removed the full clinical hold on Geron`s investigational new drug (IND) application for imetelstat.

With the lift of the full clinical hold, a multi-center Phase 2 clinical trial in MF is projected to begin in the first half of 2015.

GERN shares recently gained $0.69 to $2.92. In the past 52 weeks, shares of Menlo Park, California-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company have traded between a low of $1.31 and a high of $7.36. Shares are down 40.21% year-over-year and 50.22% year-to-date.

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