Geron Corp (GERN)

[Joda]

"Perhaps Institutions Now Hold 50% Or More of Geron common shares outstanding. These institutions are the ones that have been watching Dr. Tefferi's trial progress for quite some time and, with Geron management looking for more money despite $66M cash in hand is a strong indication (perhaps confirmation) to them that the unannounced results from the Mayo trial (including all 79 patients) must be very encouraging. And, having projected so, they may have decided to grab Geron shares, perhaps causing to-day's heavy trading volume. Note that the shorted shares were only 12 million or so, far less than to-day's volume and not all 12M shares should have been covered to-day! Thus, the buyers must be institutions and holders (including hedgies) scared after learning $4 offering price must have dropped their shares to be picked up by these institutions. To institutions investing in Geron (owning a blockbuster drug) at this time, at this low price, must be a good deal and the only opportunity to grab the shares cheap.

Also, the institutions perhaps project that the Mayo results (for the 79 patients) will impress the FDA , resulting in a faster processing of the FTD or BTD status for Imtelstat and, if so, the share price will head higher when that is announced. Thus, for them, this is perhaps the best opportunity to grab the shares cheap. Note that these institutions have generally very qualified managers capable of getting the inside information much faster than we retail investors can get our hands on. "