by The Editors on August 13, 2008
The San Diego Weekly Reader’s Don Bauder asked executive compensation expert Graef Crystal to “figure out how the remuneration of head bean counters at five large San Diego companies compared with pay of their counterparts elsewhere.”
Turns out Invitrogen’s CFO David Hoffmeister, who made $2.2 million last year, was “a bit ahead of what he should have made by Crystals reckoning.” But, according to Bauder, Invitrogen stock beat the market by 60 percent. Maybe that is why Invitrogen CEO Gregory Lucier (pictured right) is doing so well.
Gregory Lucier, in pulling down $29 million, made a whopping 583 percent above the market based on company size and pay risk, says Crystal. But the company’s stock has to meet certain future targets. Lucier is not supposed to get another award until the end of next year. Crystal tends to pooh-pooh such declarations, stating that boards of directors often forget that they said they wouldn’t dole out any more for a long period. “You grant it, I count it,” says Crystal.
As long as Lucier and Hoffmeister keep that stock climbing, we’re all good with whatever they are getting paid.
[Link: San Diego Weekly Reader]
by The Editors on July 24, 2008
We were so excited about our favorite Carlsbad-based life sciences company the last time we mentioned Invitrogen that we bought a couple shares. Lucky us, because yesterday they announced that second quarter profits were up 30 percent
The Carlsbad, California-based company posted net income of $53.2 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with a profit of $40.9 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier. . . The results topped analyst expectations by a whopping 11 cents, according to Reuters Estimates, and Invitrogen shares jumped nearly 5 percent in premarket trading.
Knowing nothing about the life sciences business or the stock market in general, we’re feeling pretty good about Invitrogen’s future as well. Not that it matters.
[Link: Forbes.com]
by The Editors on July 9, 2008
Our favorite life sciences company, the Carlsbad-based Invitrogen, will release their second quarter earnings Thursday July 24, 2008.
Following the earnings release, Invitrogen senior management will hold a live webcast at 9:00 a.m. EDT to discuss financial and other business results. . . . The webcast can be accessed on Invitrogen’s Web site at www.invitrogen.com. Alternatively, callers may listen to the live conference call by dialing 866.831.5605 and use passcode 21567755.
After yesterday’s news we’re going to make a wild speculation and say that the news is going to be pretty good.
[Link: Market Watch]
by The Editors on July 8, 2008
A new genetic test from Invitrogen that can gauge a patient’s response to a new breast cancer drug was approved by The Food and Drug Aministration today, according to a story on CNNMoney.com.
Herceptin was the first of a new class of cancer drugs which destroy cancer cells without also killing normal cells. It works by targeting the HER-2 gene, which encourages tumor growth. However, only about 20 percent of breast cancer patients have cancer caused by the gene. . . .The Spotlight HER2 CISH test from Invitrogen identifies which patients are likely to respond to Herceptin based on the amount of HER-2 gene in their tumors.
Invitrogen stock was up 72 cents on the news.
[Link: CNNMoney.com]
by The Editors on June 13, 2008
Our favorite Carlsbad-based life sciences company Invitrogen just spent $6.4 billion to purchase “scientific instruments-maker Applera’s Applied Biosystems Group.”
Invitrogen will pay $38 per share for Applied Biosystems, representing a 17 percent premium to the stock’s closing price Wednesday. . . . The deal, which needs the approval of both companies’ shareholders, is expected to close this fall.
About 45 percent of the deal will reportedly be in cash, the rest of stock. Invitrogen’s shares dropped nearly $6 a share on the news and is now trading at $38.97. Up .24 on the day.
And we thought Invitrogen couldn’t get any scarier.
[Link: Chicago Tribune]
by The Editors on June 4, 2008
They’re not exactly the Oscars, but Invitrogen, our favorite Carlsbad life sciences company, just cleaned up at the annual Life Science Industry Awards, taking home a total of six awards. We’ve never heard sexier categories: Cell Biology Kits and Reagents; Cell Culture Media and Reagents; Most Responsive Customer Service;
Most Knowledgeable Technical Support; Most Useful Website; and Most Memorable Print Advertisements.
This is the fourth year in a row that customers have recognized Invitrogen as being one of the best companies in the life sciences industry,” said Greg Lucier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Invitrogen. “The twelve nominations, and six awards, that we received demonstrate success in our strategy of maintaining an innovative portfolio of products and differentiated services.”
Invitrogen is simply the most of the mostest.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on May 1, 2008
Days after giving our favorite Carlsbad-based life sciences company a completely uninformed “buy” rating, Invitrogen’s board of directors announces that the stock is going to split.
The stock split will be distributed May 27 to shareholders of record as of May 16. . . .Shares of Invitrogen (nasdaq: IVGN – news – people ) rose 51 cents to $94.08 in after-hours electronic trading, after falling 35 cents to close at $93.57 in the regular trading session.
We may wait until after the split to see where the stock settles out.
[Link: Forbes.com]
by The Editors on April 29, 2008
Our favorite life sciences company, Carlsbad’s Invitrogen, just announced that its first quarter profits have doubled since the first quarter of 2007. Looks like CEO Greg Lucier is worth every penny of his package.
Analysts have attributed this encouraging bottom line to improved profit margins, share buybacks and lower taxes. So much so that the Carlsbad, California-based company did better than the $334.5m in revenue analysts had been predicting. . . . Looking ahead to full-year 2008, the company said that revenue growth was expected, ‘in percentage terms to be in the high single digits.’ This is up from a previous forecast for mid-single-digit growth.
If we knew anything about the stock market we’d probably give Invitrogen a strong buy rating.
[Link: Lab Technologist]
by The Editors on April 22, 2008
A Carlsbad man, Dr. Jackson Streeter, is working on an investigative light therapy that he says can help save injured brain cells, specifically in cases of nerve and spinal cord injuries, as well as Parkinson’s disease. The company is called PhotoThera and it’s device works like this:
A hand-held probe delivers an infrared energy signal into the brain. It stimulates mitochondria, which provide energy to each living cell. The mitochondria in neurons shut down when the brain is injured. “When that energy transfer takes place, it keeps cells alive inside the brain that might otherwise die,” Dr. Streeter says.
We wouldn’t mind trying to rescue some of our damaged brain cells. Streeter hopes to get FDA approval by next year.
[Link: New4jax.com]
by The Editors on April 14, 2008
First it was the Mastodon fossil found at El Camino Real and Canon Road. Now, a second discovery has been made at the new Robertson Ranch development.
Late last month, paleontologists monitoring the excavation of Robertson Ranch, which is being developed for homes, spotted a skeleton of a giant ground sloth as earthmovers were grading. . . “We know we have part of a pelvis, part of a front leg and part of a back leg,” Deméré said of the sloth discovery. “There were two ribs we could see and part of a vertebra. . . . They’d been held together a couple of hundred thousand years by mudstone.”
While this giant sloth roamed the Carlsbadistan area approximately 120,000 to 200,000 years ago, experts believe it was likely not one of Mayor Bud Lewis‘ pets.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
The San Diego Weekly Reader’s Don Bauder asked executive compensation expert Graef Crystal to “figure out how the remuneration of head bean counters at five large San Diego companies compared with pay of their counterparts elsewhere.”
RSS Feed-Posts