Why Merrimack Is Poised to Outperform

Updated

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, biopharmaceutical company Merrimack Pharmaceuticals has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Merrimack and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Merrimack facts

Headquarters (founded)

Cambridge, Mass. (1993)

Market Cap

$582.4 million

Industry

Biotechnology

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$48.9 million

Management

CEO Robert Mulroy
CFO William Sullivan

Trailing-12-Month Return on Capital

(871.1%)

Cash/Debt

$110.0 million / $39.9 million

Competitors

Immunomedics
Threshold Pharmaceuticals


Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 97%of the 36 members who have rated Merrimack believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just yesterday, one of those Fools, All-Star zzlangerhans, offered a cautiously bullish take on the Merrimack opportunity:

A recent rally was squelched when the company announced a delay in projected topline data of the NAPOLI-1 trial to H2 2013 from mid 2013. I would imagine that means Q4 2013 at the earliest, otherwise the company would have waited longer before announcing the delay to make sure the data wouldn't be ready in Q3 after all.

NAPOLI-1 is evaluating the efficacy of MM-398 liposomal irinotecan in pancreatic cancer. The main issues I have with the prospects of success are prior failure of a liposomal irinotecan being developed by Neopharm, and the poor success rate of phase III therapies against pancreatic cancer in general. Fortunately for Merrimack, the [$582M] market cap places them outside the hopeless sub-[$300M] Feuerstein-Ratain echelon but the track record of the 300M-1B echelon isn't that much better.

After MM-398, Merrimack has a substantial array of monoclonals in clinical trials for cancer which makes them reminiscent of successful outfits such as [Seattle Genetics] and [ImmunoGen], and also less successful outfits such as Immunomedics.

If you want market-topping returns, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Of course, despite its perfect five-star rating, Merrimack may not be your top choice.

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The article Why Merrimack Is Poised to Outperform originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends ImmunoGen. 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 Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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