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Martin Shkreli Bets Against Olema Pharmaceuticals After 140% Rally

MarketDash Editorial Team
19 days ago
Martin Shkreli publicly announced he's shorting Olema Pharmaceuticals even as the stock surged over 140% on positive news about a competitor's breast cancer drug trial results.

While shares of Olema Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OLMA) were soaring on Tuesday, Martin Shkreli was doing the opposite: betting against them. The controversial former pharmaceutical executive, known for his aggressive short positions and, well, everything else, publicly announced he's shorting the biotech company even as it rocketed over 140% higher.

The rally started after Roche Holdings AG (RHHBY) released phase 3 results from its lidERA Breast Cancer study. Roche's drug giredestrant, a SERD treatment for early-stage breast cancer, showed significant and clinically meaningful improvement in patient survival. That's obviously great news for Roche, but it also lifted Olema's stock since the company is developing its own SERD drug.

SERDs, or Selective Estrogen Receptor Degraders, are a class of drugs used to treat hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. When one company proves the approach works, investors often bet that similar companies will benefit from the validation.

Shkreli isn't buying it. In a post on X Tuesday morning, he wrote: "Shorting OLMA, don't see how another company's results are 3x another SERD company. a million SERDs out there."

His argument is straightforward: the SERD market is overcrowded, so Olema's tripling in value based on a competitor's success doesn't make sense. Too many players chasing the same opportunity means the pie gets sliced thinner for everyone.

The market, at least on Tuesday, strongly disagreed. Olema shares climbed to $20.17, up 136.8% in midday trading. And it wasn't just retail traders piling in—several Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the stock:

  • HC Wainwright analyst Emily Bodnar maintained a Buy rating and bumped her target from $28 to $36.
  • Oppenheimer analyst Matthew Biegler kept his Outperform rating and raised his target from $22 to $45.
  • JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating and lifted its target from $29 to $32.

So we've got Shkreli on one side saying the stock is overvalued, and multiple institutional analysts on the other side raising their targets by 50% or more. Someone's going to be right, and someone's going to be wrong. That's what makes markets interesting.

OLMA Price Action: Olema Pharmaceuticals shares were up 136.8% at $20.17 on Tuesday, according to market data.

Back to News

Martin Shkreli Bets Against Olema Pharmaceuticals After 140% Rally

MarketDash Editorial Team
19 days ago
Martin Shkreli publicly announced he's shorting Olema Pharmaceuticals even as the stock surged over 140% on positive news about a competitor's breast cancer drug trial results.

While shares of Olema Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OLMA) were soaring on Tuesday, Martin Shkreli was doing the opposite: betting against them. The controversial former pharmaceutical executive, known for his aggressive short positions and, well, everything else, publicly announced he's shorting the biotech company even as it rocketed over 140% higher.

The rally started after Roche Holdings AG (RHHBY) released phase 3 results from its lidERA Breast Cancer study. Roche's drug giredestrant, a SERD treatment for early-stage breast cancer, showed significant and clinically meaningful improvement in patient survival. That's obviously great news for Roche, but it also lifted Olema's stock since the company is developing its own SERD drug.

SERDs, or Selective Estrogen Receptor Degraders, are a class of drugs used to treat hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. When one company proves the approach works, investors often bet that similar companies will benefit from the validation.

Shkreli isn't buying it. In a post on X Tuesday morning, he wrote: "Shorting OLMA, don't see how another company's results are 3x another SERD company. a million SERDs out there."

His argument is straightforward: the SERD market is overcrowded, so Olema's tripling in value based on a competitor's success doesn't make sense. Too many players chasing the same opportunity means the pie gets sliced thinner for everyone.

The market, at least on Tuesday, strongly disagreed. Olema shares climbed to $20.17, up 136.8% in midday trading. And it wasn't just retail traders piling in—several Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the stock:

  • HC Wainwright analyst Emily Bodnar maintained a Buy rating and bumped her target from $28 to $36.
  • Oppenheimer analyst Matthew Biegler kept his Outperform rating and raised his target from $22 to $45.
  • JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating and lifted its target from $29 to $32.

So we've got Shkreli on one side saying the stock is overvalued, and multiple institutional analysts on the other side raising their targets by 50% or more. Someone's going to be right, and someone's going to be wrong. That's what makes markets interesting.

OLMA Price Action: Olema Pharmaceuticals shares were up 136.8% at $20.17 on Tuesday, according to market data.

    Martin Shkreli Bets Against Olema Pharmaceuticals After 140% Rally - MarketDash News