CNTA Surges 44% as Eli Lilly Buys Centessa for $6.3B
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- Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) shares jumped 44.4% to $39.90 after Eli Lilly announced a $6.3 billion acquisition aimed at diversifying its metabolic portfolio with sleep disorder treatments.
- Analyst downgrades followed the deal announcement: Needham cut CNTA to "hold," B. Riley to "neutral," and Piper Sandler to "neutral" — even though 16 of 17 covering analysts had "buy" or better ratings heading into the news.
- Options traders piled in with 3,467 calls and 2,687 puts traded so far — 11 times typical volume — with the April 30 call as the most active contract, followed by December 22.50 puts.
- CNTA hit an all-time intraday high of $40.26, staging a bounce off its rising 40-day moving average and extending a 203% gain over the past nine months.
Why it matters: Lilly is paying $6.3 billion to plug a sleep-disorder asset into its metabolic-drug lineup, but the immediate analyst reaction — three downgrades despite 16 of 17 buy ratings — shows the deal price leaves little upside for CNTA holders above the takeover value, while options traders bet on post-close volatility with heavy April call interest.
