Trading pharma: 5 plays on Bristol's rough day
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)'s battering Friday serves as a buying opportunity more than a panic moment, CNBC "Fast Money" traders said.
A trial for the company's lung cancer drug, Opdivo, yielded slightly disappointing results, and Bristol-Myers Squibb shares ended the day more than 6 percent lower. The treatment improved survival in patients with the most common form of lung cancer, but it did not work in patients who tested negative for a specific protein in their tumors.
For trader Tim Seymour, market pessimism was not warranted.
"I think people are overreacting on a Friday afternoon," he said.
The stock dropped to a level where investors "can start to pick" at it, Seymour said. Trader Josh Brown agreed, noting that many past selloffs in pharmaceutical companies after trial results have opened buying opportunities.
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Trader Steve Grasso added that Bristol-Myers Squibb looks appealing, but he would likely wait a few sessions to see how it trades.
"I would wait a couple days and be a buyer of Bristol," Grasso said.
But other pharmaceutical options look more enticing based on valuation, trader Guy Adami said. He noted that he would rather own Pfizer (PFE) or Eli Lilly (LLY), which have lower forward price-to-earnings ratios than Bristol-Myers Squibb.
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Both Pfizer and Eli Lilly have climbed more than 10 percent this year.
Disclosures:
Tim Seymour
Tim Seymour is long AAPL, T, BAC, C, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC and SUNE. Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, FCX, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX and YHOO.
Steve Grasso
Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BAC, DD, EVGN, MJNA, PFE, T, TWTR and GDX. His firm is long DVN, AMD, FCX, MCD, NE, NEM, OXY, RIG, TSE and VALE his kids own EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR and SPY.
Josh Brown
Josh is long AAPL, BAC, DE, DNKN, FSLR, JMBA, SAM, SHAK, SPWR, TNET, TWTR, XLE and XON.
Guy Adami
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS and INTC. Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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