Ligand Pharma stock tanks after short seller Citron calls it 'pipe dream'

Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell more than 20% on Wednesday after famed short seller Andrew Left of Citron Research called the San Diego, Calif., drug company's pipeline a "pipe dream." Ligand "is a company designed for the 'lazy investor' whose stock price has 80% downside from its current levels once people READ," Left said in a note. Ligand has changed its strategy from developing its own drugs to acquiring candidate drugs and technologies and forming partnerships to develop them further. Although the company has generated royalties, they are mostly generated from just four approved drugs with one accounting for more than 75% of royalties, the note said. Shares of Ligand have fallen 32% in the past 12 months, compared with losses around 6% for the S&P 500 index.

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