Puma Biotechnology, Herbalife Among Week’s Big Movers

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The Los Angeles Business Journal’s weighted index of the area’s largest public companies rose for the week.

The LABJ Stock Index climbed 2 percent in the trading week that ended Friday to close at 199. Gainers outpaced laggers by 85 to 69, with share prices for 10 companies remaining unchanged.

Puma Biotechnology Inc. of Westwood was the week’s big winner. The company’s share price shot up by 238 percent during the week to close at $200.68 at week’s end. Puma Biotechnology’s surge came on news of favorable results of a clinical trial for neratinib, a drug the company is developing for breast cancer treatment. The tests showed that patients who participated in the test had a 33 percent better disease-free survival rate than patients who took a placebo.

Herbalife, which sells nutritional products through a multilevel network of distributors, also had a big week. Share prices for the Los Angeles company rose 10 percent during the trading week to reach $66.06. The rise came despite an attack by hedge fund manager William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management who said he would provide conclusive evidence Herbalife operates as an illegal pyramid scheme. Ackman’s case, however, did not persuade the traders who subsequently sent share prices on an upward trajectory.

Jakks Pacific Inc., a Malibu toy company, was among the week’s losers. Share prices fell nearly 12 percent to $7.06 after the company reported a bigger loss than analysts had projected.

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