NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Shares of Vermillion, Nanosphere, and Cepheid were the top gainers in May among the 36 companies that comprise the GenomeWeb Daily News Index.
Shares of Vermillion, which had the sharpest increase, rose 92.6 percent for the month. However, the stock has fallen steadily since reaching a high of $5.14 on May 6, three trading days after closing at $1.16 to start the month.
Vermillion, which reported in mid-May that it had cut its first-quarter net loss by 20 percent, said that it expects to file its ovarian tumor triage test, called OVA1, with the US Food and Drug Administration within the next couple of months.
Nanosphere’s stock has risen throughout the month, with an uptick after its first-quarter results were released on May 13. The firm reported that its Q1 revenues more than doubled year over year on initial customer adoption of its Verigene system. Its shares climbed 44.1 percent for the month of May.
Cepheid was the other firm in the Index whose shares gained more than 30 percent for the month, rising 34.5 percent. The firm started the month by reporting that its first-quarter revenues had increased 76 percent year over year along with a sharp drop in its net loss. It also inked a couple of group purchasing deals during the month for its GeneXpert molecular diagnostic system and associated assays.
On the other end of the spectrum, two firms — DeCode Genetics and Helicos BioSciences —saw their shares drop more than 20 percent for the month of May.
DeCode started the month by reporting a 74.4 percent increase in Q1 revenues, but its shares slipped over the last half of the month and closed down 24.7 percent.
Helicos, whose shares fell 21.2 percent during May, reported its first-quarter results at the end of April. During that quarter, it shipped its first Helicos Genetic Analysis System to genomics services firm Expression Analysis. Since then, it has yet to announce another sale or shipment of its system.
Overall, the Index gained 3.1 percent for the month of May, matching the increase for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In comparison, the Nasdaq jumped 10.7 percent, and the Nasdaq Biotech Index rose 4.7 percent form the month.
In addition, molecular diagnostics firm Gen-Probe has replaced Lumera in the GWDN Index as of May 1.
While GenomeWeb Daily News covers many more firms than are in the Index, those that have been included have a significant portion of their business focused on molecular biology and cellular research tools and are publicly traded in the US.
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GenomeWeb Daily News Index
|
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| Company |
Ticker
|
Current Price
(May 30, 2008) |
Last
Price (April 30, 2008) |
% change
|
| Accelrys |
ACCL
|
6.52 | 5.67 |
14.99
|
| Accelr8 |
AXK
|
4.62 | 3.99 |
15.79
|
| Affymetrix |
AFFX
|
12.06 | 10.91 |
10.54
|
| Agilent |
A
|
37.39 | 30.21 |
23.77
|
| Applied Biosystems |
ABI
|
34.76 | 31.91 |
8.93
|
| Beckman |
BEC
|
69.39 | 68.30 |
1.60
|
| Becton Dickinson |
BDX
|
84.45 | 89.40 |
-5.54
|
| Bio-Rad |
BIO
|
89.48 | 83.35 |
7.35
|
| Bruker |
BRKR
|
11.64 | 12.12 |
-3.96
|
| Caliper |
CALP
|
3.58 | 3.65 |
-1.92
|
| Celera |
CRA
|
12.88 | 13.38 |
-3.74
|
| Cepheid |
CPHD
|
26.32 | 19.57 |
34.49
|
| Clinical Data |
CLDA
|
19.12 | 15.42 |
23.99
|
| CombiMatrix |
CBMX
|
9.54 | 11.10 |
-14.05
|
| Compugen |
CGEN
|
2.03 | 2.30 |
-11.74
|
| DeCode Genetics |
DCGN
|
1.16 | 1.54 |
-24.68
|
| Genomic Health |
GHDX
|
17.30 | 21.52 |
-19.61
|
| Gen-Probe* |
GPRO
|
56.94 | 56.36 |
1.03
|
| Helicos BioSciences |
HLCS
|
4.69 | 5.95 |
-21.18
|
| Illumina |
ILMN
|
78.48 | 77.89 |
0.76
|
| Invitrogen** |
IVGN
|
45.96 | 46.79 | -1.77 |
| Luminex |
LMNX
|
22.24 | 19.51 | 13.99 |
| MDS |
MDZ
|
18.71 | 19.91 | -6.03 |
| Millipore |
MIL
|
72.65 | 70.10 | 3.64 |
| Nanogen |
NGEN
|
0.33 | 0.41 | -19.51 |
| Nanosphere |
NSPH
|
9.60 | 6.66 | 44.14 |
| Orchid Cellmark |
ORCH
|
2.83 | 2.56 | 10.55 |
| PerkinElmer |
PKI
|
28.28 | 26.56 | 6.48 |
| Qiagen |
QGEN
|
19.91 | 22.21 | -10.36 |
| Rosetta Genomics |
ROSG
|
4.16 | 4.89 | -14.93 |
| Sequenom |
SQNM
|
7.69 | 6.32 | 21.68 |
| Sigma-Aldrich |
SIAL
|
58.76 | 57.02 | 3.05 |
| Thermo |
TMO
|
59.02 | 57.87 | 1.99 |
| Third Wave |
TWTI
|
10.61 | 8.82 | 20.29 |
| Vermillion |
VRML
|
2.08 | 1.08 | 92.59 |
| Waters |
WAT
|
61.52 | 61.46 | 0.10 |
| GWDN Index Average | 27.96 |
27.13
|
3.07
|
|
** Gen-Probe has replaced Lumera in the GWDN Index.
** Invitrogen’s April 30 closing price was actually $93.57. The price listed in the Index reflects a two-for-one stock split that took place on May 28.