PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Regeneron

Benzinga's PreMarket Prep airs every morning from 8-9 a.m. ET. During that fast-paced, highly informative hour, traders and investors tune in to get the major news of the day, the catalysts behind those moves and the corresponding price action for the upcoming session.

On any given day, the show will cover at least 20 stocks determined by co-hosts Joel Elconin and Dennis Dick along with producer Spencer Israel.

For those who don't have the time to tune in live or listen to the podcast, Benzinga will highlight one stock that merits further discussion. This analysis is not a buy or sell recommendation.

After-hours trading can be dangerous, but it can also be lucrative, especially in a thin after-hours session like last Thursday ahead of the three-day July 4 weekend. At that time, any news on an issue can have a significant impact on share price and may allow a trader to get prices that will not be revisited during the regular session.

This exact scenario applies to the price action in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals REGN around 4:30 p.m. on July 2, making it today's PreMarket Prep Stock Of the Day.

Big Winner In 2020: Although it has been an up and down for many issues, and more specifically in the biotech sector, Regeneron has been a beast. After a flat to slightly positive year in 2019 ($373.50 to $375.38), it has far outperformed the indexes by rallying 70% in 2020.

The Bad News And The Price Action: After Thursday's close, Regeneron and its partner Sanofi SNY announced a Phase 3 trial of Kevzara in COVID-19 patients did not meet primary and secondary endpoints. As expected on such a negative headline in a thin market, the issue swooned from its day-end closing price of $622.45 to $599.90 on light volume.

It should be noted that low comes in between a series of three consecutive lows on June 24 ($599), June 25 ($502.51) and June 26 ($601.56).

At the conclusion of the after-hours session, it had rallied back to $611.

Monday Morning Comeback: Before Monday's open, Regeneron announced the start of its REGN-COV2 Phase 3 Covid-19 prevention trial in collaboration with the National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases.

Just as sellers overreacted on the downside, the same thing happened on the upside. Minutes after the announcement, the issue exceeded its all-time high from June 19 ($646.33), rallying to $654 before reversing course.

The issue is higher by $5.25 at $627.70 at the time of publication. Interestingly, it has not come anywhere near its after-hours low of $599.90 or its pre-market high of $654 (it peaked around $637 in the regular session).

The Takeaway: Pre-market and after-hours training is certainly not for everyone. Many of the moves that place are well overdone. Therefore, if you're prepared to act quickly and have a game plan, extreme prices can be had that may not be seen in the regular session.

The full discussion of the issue from today’s show can be found here: