NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The GenomeWeb Index rose nearly 6 percent in April, as companies have begun to report their first quarter earnings and set the tone for the year with their 2017 guidance.
The GenomeWeb Index vastly outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq, and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which gained 1 percent, 2 percent, and nearly 2 percent, respectively.
Stock performance in the April GenomeWeb Index was mostly positive, with 18 of the 26 stocks seeing gains and only seven seeing losses. One firm, GenMark Diagnostics, was completely flat month over month.
Exact Sciences took the top spot in April with a 27 percent increase in share price after posting a 226 percent increase in first quarter revenues and a 150 percent increase in the number of Cologuard colon cancer screening tests completed. The company also raised its full-year 2017 guidance for both revenues and completed tests, announcing its intention to eventually capture about 30 percent of the colon cancer testing market.
Foundation Medicine took the second spot in the top-three list with a 10 percent increase, continuing the strong start it saw in the first three months of the year. At the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, DC last month, representatives from the company presented new data on the adaptation of its comprehensive genomic profiling to predict tumor mutational burden and guide the use of immunotherapies. The company also presented data offering new insights into specific molecular changes that appear to influence response to these increasingly popular drugs.
Bio-Rad Laboratories rounded out the top-three list in April with a nearly 10 percent increase in share price.
Pacific Biosciences was the biggest decliner in April, losing 24 percent. The company reported a 30 percent increase in first quarter revenues, but its stock took a large hit after it lowered its 2017 guidance due to uncertainties about the US federal budget, which would affect many of its customers.
PacBio is also being sued in Europe by Oxford Nanopore Technologies, which is alleging infringement of intellectual property from Harvard University for which Oxford holds an exclusive license.
NanoString Technologies lost 12 percent in April, and Veracyte rounded out the bottom three with an 8 percent dip.
