PTC Therapeutics, Opus Bank, Pearson, and More: What Is Going on With These Falling Stocks?

Although the broader markets are just down by a fraction of a percent, shares of five companies, PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT), W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI), Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU), Pearson PLC (ADR) (NYSE:PSO), and Opus Bank (NASDAQ:OPB), are losing considerably more ground on Monday.

In this article, we examine what is going on with the five stocks and see how the investors from our database are positioned towards each company.

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PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT) shares have slid by 35% after the company provided a disappointing regulatory update on its lead product/product candidate Translarna for the treatment of nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy. According to the update, the FDA denied PTC’s first appeal of the refuse to file letter issued by the agency on February 22, 2016 regarding PTC’s NDA for Translarna. According to the company, PTC intends to escalate its appeal to the next supervisory level of the FDA. In addition, PTC disclosed that the CHMP of the EMA issued a request for supplemental information, including a request categorized as a major objection. The renewal of PTC’s MAA in Europe generally requires PTC to adequately address the points raised in the major objection. The major objection relates to the efficacy and overall risk-benefit profile of Translarna. Of the 749 funds we track, 13 funds owned $22.28 million worth of PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT)’s stock, which accounted for 9.20% of the float on June 30, versus 12 funds and $40.31 million, respectively, on March 31.

W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI) is down by 6.4% after Barclays analyst Thomas Driscoll downgraded the stock to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ and trimmed his price target to $1 per share from the previous $2. Driscoll downgraded the stock because he is somewhat concerned about the company’s leverage situation and the broader difficult off-shore drilling environment. The number of funds from our database with holdings in W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI) inched up by one quarter-over-quarter to six at the end of June.

On the next page, we find out why traders are selling Skypeople Fruit Juice, Pearson PLC, and Opus Bank.
Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU) shares are almost 20% in the red after the company disclosed in an SEC filing that it had received a delisting determination letter from the NASDAQ notifying SkyPeople that the company’s common stock is subject to delisting due to the company not filing its quarterly reports and annual report on time. SkyPeople intends to request a hearing with the NASDAQ to present its plan to regain compliance, which will automatically stay the delisting for 15 calendar days from the deadline to request a hearing, which is October 19. Two funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned $67,000 worth of Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU), which accounted for 1.00% of the float on June 30. As with all nano-cap stocks, traders should do their due-diligence on both sides.

Pearson PLC (ADR) (NYSE:PSO) is off by 8% after the company announced that sales for the nine months of the year declined by 7% in underlying terms. One big reason for the shrinkage was inventory corrections by retailers in July and August. Management has noted that they have made good progress in terms of simplifying the company, having achieved an over 90% reduction in the target headcount reduction of around 4,000 full time equivalent employees. Despite the poor September top-line, management reiterated its 2016 guidance and maintained its 2018 goals. Six funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long Pearson PLC (ADR) (NYSE:PSO) at the end of June, down by three funds from the previous quarter.

Shares of Opus Bank (NASDAQ:OPB) are down by 19% in late afternoon trading after the bank announced that it expects to report a net loss of $0.05 per diluted share for the third quarter, mainly due to a $0.59 per diluted share impact from loan charge-offs. The loss is evidently worse than the Street’s estimate. Opus’ management will expound on these charge-offs, the provision for loan losses and Opus’ credit quality during a third quarter 2016 earnings conference call scheduled for October 24, 2016. A total of 13 funds from our database were long Opus Bank (NASDAQ:OPB) at the end of the second quarter, down by two funds from the previous quarter.

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