Why Shares Of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Are Down Today

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What:Dicerna Pharmaceuticals,a small biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of treatments for rare diseases,fell 12% today after the companyannouncedthe pricing results of its follow-on common stock offering that wasannounced on Monday.

So what: The company is offering 2.75 million shares of its common stock at a price of $17.75, and it is also granting their underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 412,500additional shares. Theannounced$17.75 price represents a 5% discount to the closing price of the stock on Wednesday, which the market did not appear to like. The stock is currently down 10% today on heavy trading volume.

Now what: This offering could add more than $55 million to the company's already-sizable $87 million in cash and marketable securities position. The company is going to use the proceeds of the offering to fund preclinical studies and clinical trials for its interesting, albeit high-risk, RNA Interference Medicines. Beyond funding those studies, the company will use the capital to develop its technology platform and for general corporate purposes.

After the offering is complete, the company should have enough capital on hand to continue to operate for a few more years without the need for additional capital raises. The company had said prior to the offering that it had enough cash to fund operations through 2016, and this additional $55 million should add roughly another year to that, assuming fairly constant spending patterns. However, this follow-on offering is going to dilute current shareholders by up to 18%.

Dicerna is a high-risk, small cap biotech stock, and analysts expect the company to generate less than $2 million in revenue for the year. This fool will continue to watch Dicerna's progress with great interest, but will want to see the company make more progress with its clinical studies before committing any investment dollars.

The article Why Shares Of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Are Down Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Brian Feroldi has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.