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Shares of genetic-analysis company Affymetrix ( AFFX ) jumped to an eight-year high in midday trading Friday after receiving a rival bid for its proposed $1.3 billion sale to Thermo Fisher Scientific ( TMO ). A newly created company called Origin Technologies, led by a group of former Affymetrix executives, offered $16.10 a share in cash for the company, topping the $14-a-share offer that Affymetrix accepted back on Jan. 8. Origin’s President Wei Zhou, a former senior vice president at Affymetrix, also started up genomics company Centrillion Technology back in 2009, and said that Origin has the option of combining with Centrillion after acquiring Affymetrix. “Should Origin ultimately combine with Centrillion, Origin-owned Affymetrix and Centrillion would offer an unparalleled range of microarray and DNA-sequencing technology products and services for customers,” said Origin’s press release. Affymetrix stock had been trading near 14 since the Thermo Fisher deal was announced. When Origin’s press release came out at noon Friday, the stock popped 14% to around 16. Thermo Fisher stock was up about 1.5% in midday trading on the stock market today . Thermo Fisher is trading within 2% of its all-time high, with a decent Relative Strength Rating of 74, though earnings and sales growth shrank to single digits last year. Affymetrix’s growth has also been in single digits lately, but Leerink analyst Dan Leonard wrote at the time of the deal that “Affymetrix’s growth could accelerate once the business leverages Thermo Fisher’s broader customer and geographic channels.” Affymetrix gets an IBD Composite Rating of 70 and Thermo Fisher a 75. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News