Geron: Stock Market Star?

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Geron has become a "sudden star" on the options market.

The piece by Rob Curran said,

"On the options market, about 24,500 call contracts giving the right to buy the stock traded against 3,600 put contracts giving the right to sell, according to TrackData.

"At 4 p.m. (Monday) in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, Geron was up 15% at $8.15. That follows Friday's roughly 36% jump.

"Shares of the developer of therapies based on stem-cell research had languished in recent years along with academic and corporate research in its niche of genetic medicine. The shares rallied Friday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for the first-ever trial of a therapy derived from embryonic stem cells. That sudden swing and the promise of more like it is what drew options traders to the stock Monday, said Frederic Ruffy, options strategist at Whatstrading.com.

"'The volatility in the share price attracts a lot of option traders,' Mr. Ruffy said.

"'One of the themes you can make a lot of money with is if you can ... predict new policies,' said William Lefkowitz, derivatives strategist at vFinance Investments. 'You don't really need results to make lot of money at the beginning of the administration.'"

At the time of this writing Tuesday morning, Geron stock stood at $7.55, down 7 percent.

If you cannot access the WSJ story and would like to see it, send an email to djensen@californiastemcellreport.com and I will send it to you.