Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (SRPT), PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT) and More: Here’s Why These Stocks Are on Investors’ Radars Today

Wall Street is in bull mode today as all three major indexes are in the green, with the Dow rising 90 points, the S&P 500 increasing 0.5% and the NASDAQ inching up 0.4%. In addition crude futures have surged over 2% as investors look forward to the informal OPEC/Russia meeting later this month.

Among the stocks that have shown even more volatility than the indexes today are five stocks, Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT), Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL), CVR Refining LP (NYSE:CVRR), and WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ:WBMD). Let’s find out why traders are buying and selling and use the most-current 13F data to determine how the smart money is positioned among the five.

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Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) shares have surged by over 90% today after the FDA granted accelerated approval to the company’s lead candidate for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, eteplirsen, which will go by the branded name of Exondys 51. Under the accelerated approval process, Sarepta will have to conduct a clinical trial to confirm Exondys 51’s clinical benefit, specifically as it relates to the improvement of motor function of DMD patients with a confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene amenable to exon 51 skipping. The FDA may initiate proceedings to withdraw approval of Exondys 51 if the trial fails to verify the clinical benefit. Given today’s price action though, it seems few traders are willing to bet on that outcome. According to our data, 20 funds we track were savvy enough to own shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) at the end of the second quarter. That’s up by  one fund from the end of the first quarter.

PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT) shares are over 20% in the green today mostly due to the FDA granting accelerated approval to Sarepta’s eteplirsen, which is designed to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. PTC Therapeutics’ lead candidate is Translarna, which is a potential treatment of nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in ambulatory patients. Given the rally, some traders think that the FDA’s approval of eteplirsen means that the probability of an eventual approval of Translarna is greater. A total of 13 funds from our database were long $22.28 million worth of PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT)’s stock, which accounted for 9.20% of the float on June 30, including Stephen Dubois‘ Camber Capital Management which raised its stake by 68% in the second quarter to over 1.5 million shares.

On the next page, we examine why traders are trading Vical Incorporated, CVR Refining LP, and WebMD Health Corp.

Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL) is over 24% in the red after data from a Phase 2 clinical trial assessing ASP0113 showed that the vaccine failed to achieve its primary endpoint. ASP0113 is Vical’s investigational Cytomegalovirus vaccine for patients with kidney transplants. Just four funds tracked by us had a bullish position in Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL) at the end of the second quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter.

CVR Refining LP (NYSE:CVRR) is in the spotlight today after the company entered into definitive agreements with Velocity Midstream Partners, LLC to form a joint venture, that will connect the fairway of the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province to CVR Refining’s Wynnewood refinery with a crude oil pipeline and terminal. CVR Refining will hold a 40% stake in the venture. At the end of June, seven investors from our database were long CVR Refining LP (NYSE:CVRR) at the end of June.

WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ:WBMD) is in the news after the company’s board appointed Steven L. Zatz, M.D. to be the company’s CEO effective immediately. Dr. Zatz was previously the company’s President and will replace the former CEO David J. Schlanger, who is leaving by mutual agreement. Although the company’s board has also increased the stock buyback authorization by $35 million to $50 million, traders didn’t like the abrupt management change and WebMD shares are off by 6.8% as a result. The number of funds tracked by us with holdings in WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ:WBMD) rose by one quarter-over-quarter to 27 at the end of the last quarter.

Disclosure: none