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GenomeWeb Top 40 up 3 Percent in October After Two Months of Losses

Stock Market Percentages

NEW YORK – Stocks of molecular diagnostics and omics companies were up in October, though their gains lagged behind those of the broader market.

Overall, the GenomeWeb Top 40 was up roughly 3 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 14 percent, while the Nasdaq was up 4 percent, and the Nasdaq Biotech Index was up 9 percent. Of the 40 firms tracked by GenomeWeb, 27 saw their stock prices rise month over month, and 13 saw shares drop in value.

Sequencing firm Pacific Biosciences led October's winners, as its stock rose 45 percent month over month, driven by the launch of its Revio instrument at the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting. Revio succeeds PacBio's Sequel II long-read sequencing system, and will provider higher throughput at lower cost, enabling sequencing of human genomes at 30X coverage for around $1,000 in reagent costs, according to the company.

PacBio also announced at the ASHG meeting that it plans to begin shipping its new Onso short-read platform in the first half of 2023.

In a note to investors following the launch announcement, Canaccord Genuity Analyst Kyle Mikson said the bank is maintaining its Buy rating for PacBio and its price target of $14 and said that he believes "the company has set another impressive standard in the sequencing industry as the first vendor with platforms in each read-length domain."

Cue Health shares were up 32 percent month over month. The company announced at the end of September that it had submitted an application with the US Food and Drug Administration for Emergency Use Authorization for its Cue Flu + COVID-19 Molecular Test for at-home and point-of-care use.

Assuming the test receives EUA, Cue could see strong demand for testing given what is expected to be a heavy flu season. In a recent note to investors, analysts at investment bank Craig-Hallum said that based on current and projected flu levels, they are projecting "higher-than-normal flu season testing volumes in Q4 and Q1."

The Craig-Hallum note focused specifically on flu testing products from QuidelOrtho, which, perhaps not coincidentally, was also among the biggest gainers in October, with shares up 26 percent month over month. During the month, QuidelOrtho reported preliminary Q3 2022 revenues of between $782 million and $785 million. It noted that demand for COVID-19 testing was stronger than anticipated during the quarter due to "shipments of an unanticipated government order and strong retail demand."

Berkeley Lights saw the biggest drop in stock price in October, with shares down 22 percent. The company remains in the middle of a restructuring effort it announced in August aims to return to a positive operating cash flow by early 2025.

NanoString Technologies and Sophia Genetics were also among the biggest losers in October, with their share prices down month over month by 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively, though there were no obvious developments at either company that drove those declines.

GenomeWeb Top 40        
Company Ticker 31-Oct-22 30-Sep-22 % change
Adaptive Biotechnologies ADPT 7.78 7.12 9.27
Agilent Technologies* A 138.35 121.55 13.82
Becton Dickinson BDX 235.97 222.83 5.90
Berkeley Lights BLI 2.22 2.86 -22.38
Bio-Rad Laboratories BIO 351.71 417.14 -15.69
Bio-Techne TECH 296.26 284.00 4.32
Bruker BRKR 61.84 53.06 16.55
Burning Rock Biotech BNR 2.06 2.39 -13.81
CareDx CDNA 19.91 17.02 16.98
Castle Biosciences CSTL 25.52 26.08 -2.15
Cue Health HLTH 3.97 3.01 31.89
Danaher DHR 251.67 258.29 -2.56
Exact Sciences EXAS 34.78 32.49 7.05
Fulgent Genetics FLGT 39.63 38.12 3.96
Ginkgo Bioworks DNA 2.73 3.12 -12.50
Guardant Health GH 49.50 53.83 -8.04
Hologic HOLX 67.80 64.52 5.08
Illumina ILMN 228.82 190.79 19.93
Invitae NVTA 2.58 2.46 4.88
Meridian Bioscience VIVO 31.97 31.53 1.40
Myriad Genetics MYGN 20.74 19.08 8.70
NanoString Technologies NSTG 10.46 12.77 -18.09
Natera NTRA 46.96 43.82 7.17
NeoGenomics Laboratories NEO 7.61 8.61 -11.61
Pacific Biosciences PACB 8.44 5.81 45.27
Personalis PSNL 2.67 2.97 -10.10
PerkinElmer** PKI 133.58 120.33 11.01
Qiagen QGEN 43.56 41.28 5.52
Quanterix QTRX 11.07 11.02 0.45
Quantum-SI QSI 3.03 2.75 10.18
QuidelOrtho QDEL 89.82 71.48 25.66
Seer SEER 7.83 7.74 1.16
SomaLogic SLGC 3.47 2.90 19.66
Sophia Genetics SOPH 2.20 2.63 -16.35
Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO 513.97 507.19 1.34
Twist Bioscience TWST 32.83 35.24 -6.84
Veracyte VCYT 20.11 16.60 21.14
Waters WAT 299.17 269.53 11.00
23andMe ME 3.14 2.86 9.79
10x Genomics TXG 27.18 28.48 -4.56
GenomeWeb Top 40 Average   78.57 76.13 3.21
*Agilent Technologies paid a dividend of $.21 on Oct. 3        
**PerkinElmer paid a dividend of $.07 on Oct. 20