VRTX, ABT, AAPL Among Hot Stocks to Watch Today

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: VRTX) tops Tuesday's hot stocks to watch list. Shares skyrocketed 50% intraday after the biotech company deemed its cystic fibrosis treatment a success.

Also landing on today's hot stocks list are a number of penny stocks moving on company developments, a semiconductor company rising on better-than-expected earnings, and several stocks moving up on analysts' action and M&A activity.

12 Hot Stocks on the Move Today: VRTX, ABT, AAPL, and More

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: VRTX) shares surged 50% to a 52-week high of $98.80 intraday. The biotech reported its cystic fibrosis (CF) drug Kalydeco, used in tandem with its experimental drug lumacaftor, succeeded in improving lung function in two closely watched late-stage clinical trials of patients with the most common genetic mutation associated with the rare lung disease. The results are viewed as vitally important to Vertex, which is likely to need approval of the combination therapy to return to profitability. Kalydeco is already approved to treat CF patients with a different genetic mutation that accounts for roughly 2,000, or 4%, of CF patients worldwide. For 2013, it generated sales of $371 million. "These data, the totality and the consistency, were as much or more than we were hoping for," Dr. Jeffrey Leiden, chief executive officer (CEO) of Vertex, said in an interview. The company plans to submit applications for approval of the combination in the United States and Europe in Q4.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) is next up on our hot stocks to watch list. Shares ticked up a few cents to $40.91 after signing an agreement to buy Russian pharmaceutical manufacturer Veropharm for $395 to $495 million. Abbott will gain control of Veropharm by acquiring Garden Hills, a holding company that owns a controlling interest in the Russian company. The deal gives Abbott access to a portfolio of some 100 medications made at three sites across Russia. It also establishes a manufacturing presence for Abbott in Russia.

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