The shares of Voyager Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VYGR) are up 44% to trade at $11.58 this morning, after the gene therapy specialist inked a development deal with Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX). The deal will focus on Parkinson's disease and Friedreich's ataxia treatments, and Voyager could get up to $1.7 billion in potential milestone payments on top of the $165 million received up front.
Voyager Therapeutics stock sits at the top of the Nasdaq today, and is on track for its best day ever. VYGR desperately needed this shot in the arm. The stock had carved out a channel of lower lows for the last six months, culminating in a Jan. 24 record bottom of $7.76. Now, the shares have toppled their formerly restrictive 50-day moving average for the first time since an early September bear gap.
Analysts have remained bullish, however. By the numbers, six of the nine in coverage have "strong buy" recommendations on the security. Even more revealing, the average 12-month price target stands all the way up at $24.55.
In the options pits, there has been a distinct preference toward calls -- though it's been amid very low absolute volumes. VYGR has a Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.10, in the 2nd percentile of its annual range. In other words, short-term options traders are much more call-skewed than normal.