One name received a bull note, while the other reported impressive drug data
Alliance Global Partners initiated coverage on Auris Medical Holding AG (NASDAQ:EARS) with a "buy" rating and $2.50 price target -- a 431% premium to Friday's closing price of $0.47. The marks the first brokerage firm to initiate coverage on the hearing specialist, with the analyst in coverage waxing optimistic on the company's vertigo treatment.
In reaction, EARS stock is up 6.4% ahead of the bell. More broadly, the penny stock has shed 92% year-to-date, and has been stuck churning below the $0.50 mark since a mid-July bear gap. The shares are poised to take on this overhead level in today's trading, and could potentially nab a fourth straight close above their 80-day moving average -- a feat not accomplished since November.
The shares of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TTPH) are set to open up 5.1%, after the company reported positive data from two late-stage studies for XERAVA, a treatment for complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI), and said it expects a commercial launch in the near term. Tetraphase also said it was encouraged by early stage data for its pipeline candidate, TP-6076.
TTPH has been trending lower on the charts since a rally off its Feb. 20 record low of $2.05 was halted by its 140-day moving average back in June. More specifically, the shares have shed 42.8% since their June 15 intraday high of $4.49, based on last Friday's close at $2.57.
Today's projected surge could shake some of the weaker bearish hands loose. Short interest on TTPH jumped 68% in the two most recent reporting periods to 2.86 million shares. This represents 5.6% of the stock's available float, or four times the average daily pace of trading.