The stock of Celera surely did grow to a lofty level some months ago. It probably would not have been an overnight collapse though. The market found out about you. Some pay off, some don't. Just realize along the way that you really are speculating.
Book value is an accounting measure of the assets of the business.
It is often thought that this is a good indicator or threshold with which one might consider investing worthiness. If the book value of the assets do not generate a profit from operating them, then the value of the company will fall below book value. The intrinsic value of Celera is below book value as well. But Celera has a billion dollars in the bank. If a decent long term return is to be realized by shareholders that will only be a result of a company's business operations being fundamentally viable.