RBC Capital Talks Puma Biotechnology

In a report published Wednesday, RBC Capital Markets analysts maintained an Outperform rating on

, with a price target of $285, saying that neratinib's Phase III ExteNET data were positive and "misread by many in the market following release of the ASCO abstracts two weeks ago." The full data from Puma's ExteNET Phase III trial testing neratinib in the extended adjuvant breast cancer setting is scheduled to be released in an oral presentation at ASCO on June 1. In the report RBC Capital Markets noted, "Reaction to the initial data release was negative, but we believe that a few key points were missed and need more careful teasing out: Most investors and oncologists had approximated that the minimum delta between the two trial arms had to be about 3% in order to result in meaningful clinical significance. At face value, the 2.3% DFS difference fell below expectations and the 2.9% DFS-DCIS difference is right at the 3% benchmark." The company's stock plunged about 25 percent after the abstract release on May 13. The analysts consider the weakness as a "significant buying opportunity," saying that they expect "a few key points to become better appreciated from the ASCO presentation than were initially gathered from the abstract."