Agenus Inc (AGEN)

[H2R]

A view on cash:

Agenus ended Q3 with $95 million in cash, and was running through the cash at about $25 million per quarter to fund its own development efforts. It will no longer have to pay to develop GITR and OX40 (now INCAGN1876 and INCAGN1949), slowing the cash burn. And another $80 million should more than double the cash Agenus had exiting 2016. At the Q4 analyst conference, management had stated they were looking for non-dilutive funding.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/4046187-incyte-buys-agenus-shares-6-can-buy-cheaper

The cash situation is really crucial for clinical phase biotechs in general and in particular when the runway is long, as for AGEN. They are playing that part really well.

The author's reason for Incyte to invest in AGEN even thought Incyte does have quite a pipeline:

I think the argument is strong that Agenus is undervalued at $6 per share, and Incyte's investment confirms that view. Incyte has a large cash balance, about $800 million, and good cash flow from its cancer drug Jakafi, but management is careful with cash. They have a very broad pipeline of their own that they can invest their cash in, so I don't think they would invest in Agenus unless they think that is likely to provide a good return to their shareholders.