Valeant's stock rockets toward best 2-day stretch in 20 years

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.'s stock soared 19% in active trade Wednesday afternoon, putting it on track for the biggest one-day percentage gain since Sept. 9, 2005, after activist investor William Ackman made bullish comments about the drug maker. The rally comes on the heels of a 10% surge on Tuesday, after the company said it completed its internal accounting review without finding any additional problems, which allows it to file its annual report by April 29. The two-day gain of 31% would be the best two-day stretch since it climbed 31.1% the two days ending July 17, 1996. Ackman said, in a quarterly conference call for his hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, that Valeant's stock has a "remarkably low valuation for a business of this quality." He also said Valeant has "one of the best collections of durable assets in the pharma space." Pershing, which owns 30.7 million Valeant shares, making it the second-largest shareholder, according to FactSet, could be making about $248.5 million in two days on its Valeant stock.

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