With last week’s recovery in the stock...
With last week’s recovery in the stock market, two San Diego biotechnology stocks rose enough to reach new highs, according to Irving Katz, director of market research for San Diego Securities.
Agouron Pharmaceutical gained 2 1/2 to a new high of 14 1/2 after the announcement of a collaborative agreement with Cambridge Bioscience Corp. that will be supported by a $4.3-million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Katz said. The firms will use Agouron’s expertise in the design of drugs to be used against the AIDS virus, Katz said.
Another new high was made by Molecular Biosystems, which touched 15 3/8 with 313,200 shares trading Monday. Molecular Biosystems closed up 2 3/4 at 14. The company recently announced it was seeking federal approval for human clinical trials of Albunex, an ultrasound contrast agent.
Rohr Industries moved up 2 to 33, recovering some of the 3 5/8 loss of the previous week that was spurred by a report of lower fourth-quarter and year-end earnings.
Energy Factors was up $1 to 9 1/8 after announcing that it would call its 8% convertible debentures at 75 cents on the dollar and buy a 49% stake in Midwest Pipeline L.P.
CCT Corp. was up one-quarter to 11 7/8 following the acquisition of Acton Computer for 3.5 million shares of CCT common stock.
IRT Corp. gained 1 3/8 to 5 after making a new low in previous weeks of 3 1/2. An opportunistic insider reported a purchase of 35,000 shares for $122,000 at its low during the past month, Katz observed.
Precision Aerotech gained one-eighth to 7 1/8 after agreeing to merge with Micronics International for an undisclosed amount of stock.
Several San Diego stocks ended the week on the down side, according to Katz.
Guild Mortgage Investing was down $1 to a new low of 7 7/8, after the resignation of longtime President James Kinney.
Burnham Pacific Properties was down 1 1/8 to 19 after a similar drop the previous week. Consequently, the company gave back most of a 3-point rise that had resulted from a strong recommendation by Merrill Lynch.
La Jolla Bancorp was down three-eighths to 8 after announcing that it will merge with Bank of Del Mar.
Fisher Scientific Group was down one-half to 18 3/4 despite announcing a $75-million pact to sell laboratory equipment to the University of California in the next five years.
International Robomation dropped one-half to 5 3/4--a 1987 low--as it announced layoffs resulting from a drop in orders.
Mycogen was unchanged at 9 while announcing an agreement with Monsanto, to combine Monsanto’s “microencapsulation” techniques with Mycogen’s bio-pesticides, Katz said.
