Array BioPharma Shares Fall As 3Q Loss Widens

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Array BioPharma Inc. fell Tuesday after the biotechnology company reported a wider fiscal third-quarter loss, mainly on a charge for a loss in auction rate securities.

The stock shed 22 cents, or 6.3 percent, to $3.27 in morning trading. Shares have traded between $2.50 and $8.84 over the last 52 weeks.

Auction-rate securities are long-term debt bought and sold at weekly and monthly auctions where new interest or dividend rates are set. They were considered nearly as safe as cash but failed after the $330 billion auction-rate market collapsed last year and banks refused to allow customers to cash in their investments.

The investment loss for Array cost $3.4 million.

Late Monday, the Boulder, Colo.-based company said it lost $29.6 million, or 62 cents per share, wider than the year-ago loss of $24.4 million, or 51 cents per share. Revenue fell 22 percent to $6 million from $7.7 million. The fiscal quarter ended March 31 and the fiscal year ends in July.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a smaller loss of 59 cents per share on revenue of $7.1 million.

Array is currently developing a range of pain, cancer, and anti-inflammatory drugs. It ended the quarter with $72.9 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.