Dendreon Shares Got Crushed: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of biotechnology company Dendreon (NAS: DNDN) plunged 18% on Monday after the company's quarterly results disappointed Wall Street.

So what: While Dendreon swung to a fourth-quarter profit of $38.1 million, a big revenue miss -- just $77 million versus the consensus of $121 million -- is forcing analysts to lower their growth expectations yet again. Slow adoption of its prostate cancer drug Provenge continues to weigh on sales, and judging from today's plunge, Wall Street doesn't expect things to turn anytime soon.

Now what: Not surprisingly, management also warned of slowing top-line growth in the current quarter. "Dendreon has embraced the challenge of introducing an entirely new treatment paradigm for an entirely new market and has made important progress towards establishing Provenge as the foundation of care," CEO John Johnson said. With the stock now down a whopping 70% from its April highs, Dendreon seems like decent opportunity for those who like to dig through the trash.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. The Fool owns shares of Dendreon. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.

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