Kite Pharma, Herbalife Among Week’s Big Movers

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The Los Angeles Business Journal’s index of the largest local public companies fell for the week. The weighted LABJ index fell less than 1 percent to close at 213. Losers just outpaced gainers, 78 to 76, with five companies unchanged.

Kite Pharma Inc. of Santa Monica was one of the week’s leading gainers. Shares rose 24 percent to close at $45.99 on Friday after analysts at Canaccord Genuity and Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of the clinical-stage biotech company.

El Segundo online postal service Stamps.com also had a good week. Shares rose 16 percent to close at $42.92 after the company reported strong third-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ expectations.

The Los Angeles nutritional supplement company Herbalife was among the week’s losing stocks. Shares fell 29 percent to close the week at $37.50 after the company reported sharply lower quarterly profits that fell well short of analysts’ expectations, leading to a downgrade from an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. To make matters worse, the company recently announced it reached a $15 million settlement in a class-action suit.

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