Diamonds and Dogs

12/7/15

Going private! Today's diamond is Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR) up over 73% after agreeing to a $13.9 billion takeover bid from private equity firm, JAB Holdings.  It hasn't been a good year for Keurig down 32% year to date even with today's 73% surge. Sales and earnings have been coming down, but JAB Holdings has a plan to turn things around. JAB wants to be the Budweiser of the coffee space. The Luxembourg-based group, known as JAB, has spent more than $30 billion in the past four years acquiring coffee companies in the U.S. and Europe including D.E Master Blenders 1753 NV, Mondelez International Inc.'s coffee unit and high-end chain Peet's Coffee & Tea. One thing is for sure, you didn't want to be short Keurig Green Mountain going into today.

Feeling blue, or could that be the lack of therapy? Today's dog is Bluebird Bio (BLUE) down 37% on disappointing clinical trial results. Bluebird Bio is a company specializing in the development and commercialization of products for potential gene therapy for patients with genetic diseases and cancer.  Today's results demonstrated that patients using Bluebird Bio's experimental drug LentiGlobin BB305  drug for severe sickle cell disease were not responding as quickly as expected with the treatment. Righ on que, an analyst at Bank of America/Merrill lynch downgraded the stock from "buy" to "neutral," lowering the price target to $62 a share from $121 per share. Thanks for nothing. Let's hope Bluebird Bio has better results with their other drugs and therapies.