2 Small Biotechs This Pro Is Watching

Independent trader and technical analyst Roberto Pedone recently released a new watchlist, and commented on a few interesting small and micro-cap stocks. 

Portola Pharmaceuticals

First is biotech player Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: PTLA), “which is starting to clear a major downtrend line with decent upside volume flows.” The technician sees some decent support levels around $38, or at its 20-day of $ 37.33.

Pedone is basically looking for the company to “take out $39 with volume for a possible run at $40 to $41, or even $42 to $43.” He assures that all of his favorite technical indicators look robust here. It can be appreciated how Portola is “holding its uptrend line from that $35 low off this recent run," he said.

Galena Biopharma

Galena Biopharma Inc GALE is a micro-cap biotech company. Shares broke out on Tuesday above their 20-day and “over some near-term overhead resistance at $1.40 and its 50-day at $1.39 with big volume.”

The trader noticed a considerable amount of block trades. “You can see from the accum/dist line this stock is being bought up here and now it's setting up to break out over $1.45-$1.48 and then over $1.55,” he said. Support is near $1.35 to $1.40; if Galena clears $1.55 with volume, Pedone added, “then it will be time for some gap filling back to $1.75.”