Myriad to acquire Crescendo

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN) jumped $4.20 (15%) to $31.38 in early after-hours trading on Tuesday after the company reported earnings for the second quarter for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, and announced it will acquire Crescendo Bioscience Inc. (South San Francisco, Calif.). Myriad will acquire molecular diagnostics company Crescendo for $245 million in cash and also will forgive a $25 million loan it made to Crescendo in 2011 in exchange for an option to acquire Crescendo. In November, Myriad disclosed in an SEC filing that it provided notice of its preliminary interest in exercising an option to acquire Crescendo, which markets Vectra D to quantify rheumatoid arthritis activity. The multi-biomarker blood test combines information from 12 serum biomarkers that have been shown to be associated with RA disease activity into a single quantitative score. JPMorgan advised Myriad, which expects the deal to close this half (see BioCentury Extra, Nov. 27, 2013).

Separately, Myriad also reported $204.1 million in revenues for its fiscal second quarter, beating the Street's $176 million estimate and up from $149.1 million in the prior year's quarter. Diluted EPS was $0.66, beating the Street's $0.46 estimate and up from $0.42 in the prior year's quarter. Myriad also raised its FY14 guidance based on the Crescendo deal and said it now expects diluted EPS of $2.09-$2.12 on $740-$750 million in revenues. The company previously expected FY14 EPS of $1.92-$1.97 on revenues of $700-$715 million. ...