Buzz Stocks: BIND Therapeutics, Biodel, and Biogen Idec

U.S. equities are poised to pop this morning, amid another drop in weekly initial jobless claims. In company news, today's stocks to watch include biotech issues BIND Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BIND), Biodel Inc (NASDAQ:BIOD), and Biogen Idec Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB).

• BIND is up more than 42% ahead of the bell, after enrolling its first patient in a phase 2 clinical trial of its non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment, BIND-014. This development follows positive results from a previous trial in late 2014. "We are pleased to see these phase 2 data for BIND-014 demonstrating that our Accurin technology is providing on-target anti-tumor activity with meaningful reductions in the incidence and severity of side-effects expected from conventional drugs," the company's chief medical officer, Hagop Youssoufian, M.D., remarked. Today's expected bullish gap will represent a break from BIND Therapeutics Inc's prevailing trend lower, with the shares down 61.4% year-over-year to trade at $5.15. On the sentiment front, just one analyst covers BIND -- handing out a "strong buy" -- while 6.4% of the stock's float is sold short.


• Also rallying in electronic trading is BIOD, which is up 36% on positive preliminary results from a phase 2 trial of its concentrated insulin formulation, BIOD-531, for treating diabetes patients with severe insulin resistance. On the charts, Biodel Inc has lost more than half of its value over the past 52 weeks, settling yesterday at $1.45. Accordingly, short sellers have been fairly active; the current accumulation of short interest would take nine sessions to repurchase, at BIOD's typical daily trading levels.


• Finally, BIIB's acute optic neuritis treatment, anti-LINGO-1, displayed potential for reversing nerve damage in the eye during a phase 2 clinical trial. As such, the stock is pointed 1.8% higher in pre-market trading. Longer term, Biogen Idec Inc has performed well on the charts, surging nearly 22% year-over-year to rest at $353.24, and recently hitting a record high of $361.93. Not surprisingly, the brokerage bunch is firmly in the bulls' corner. Fourteen of 19 covering analysts rate BIIB a "buy" or better, and its consensus 12-month price target of $380.73 stands in uncharted territory.