Biogen Idec Jumps on Icahn Interest

Shares of Biogen Idec Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) rose nearly 5% on Friday after activist investor Carl Icahn received FTC clearance to increase his stake in the company. Shares of Biogen have gained another 0.65% in yesterday's session.

Icahn's Icahn Management hedge fund disclosed a new 2,740,000 share stake in Biogen Idec as of the quarter ended June 30, 2007.

According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with Icahn's thinking, he bought the stock because he believes the company is undervalued and is a takeover candidate.

Speculators are looking at Icahn's past action in MedImmune as a tell on Biogen. Icahn was accumulating shares on MedImmune shortly before the company announced a sale to AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN).

We noted Icahn's new BIIB stake in our recent summary of his latest 13F.

BIIB 1-yr chart