Discovery Laboratories Sees Mystery In Recent Stock Gyrations

Discovery Laboratories, Inc. DSCO shot up 20 percent Thursday on heavy volume for reasons that weren't clear.

The drug development company traded recently at $1.33, up 20.7 percent, on volume of 1.01 million shares. Average daily volume is 314,634 shares.

With a market capitalization of just $100 million, Discovery has proven to be a potentially a volatile investment recently, with its shares diving about 30 percent earlier this week on no news.

A Discovery spokesman told Benzinga the company didn't know what moved the shares recently, nor who was trading.

Even including recent gyrations, Discovery shares are off about 40 percent year-to-date. The company had an accumulated deficit of $480 million at the end of fiscal 2013 and sufficient cash to fund operations through the third quarter of 2015.

Deerfield Management Company, L.P and Broadfin Capital, each separately owned a bit less than 10 percent of Discovery, while DAFNA Capital Management held about 7 percent stake as of Discovery's latest proxy statement in March.

Fidelity Investments held a 14.2 percent stake.