GenomeWeb Top 40 Rises 2 Percent in September, Largely Tracking Broader Market

NEW YORK – Stocks of omics and molecular diagnostics companies rose slightly in September, largely in line with the broader market.

Overall, the GenomeWeb Top 40 was up 2 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 3 percent. The Nasdaq Biotech Index declined 2 percent. Of the 40 firms tracked by GenomeWeb, 21 saw their stock prices rise month over month and 19 saw their shares decrease in value.

Pacific Biosciences led the winners in September, as its shares rose 24 percent month over month. The uptick marked a rebound from August when the company posted a 34 percent decline in share price. During September, PacBio entered a collaboration around fertility research with five Asian healthcare centers as well as a separate collaboration with the University Hospital of Münster to use its Revio HiFi system for research into male infertility and rare diseases.

Ginkgo Bioworks posted the second-largest gain in September with its shares up 22 percent month over month. Like PacBio, the gains were a reversal from August when Ginkgo shares were down 56 percent. Ginkgo announced in September that it had regained compliance with New York Stock Exchange minimum bid price requirements. It also launched its new Ginkgo Automation product, offering customers modular automation technologies developed for the firm's cell engineering platform.

Seer posted the third-largest gain in September with its shares up 17 percent. The company did not report any news that appeared to drive the rise in its stock price.

MDxHealth had the largest decline in stock price in September with shares down 29 percent. Toward the end of the month the company priced a $40 million offering of ordinary shares at $2 per share, after which its share price dropped sharply from around $2.50 to $2.00.

908 Devices had the second-largest decline in stock price with shares down 12 percent. The company did not report any news that appeared to drive the decline.

NeoGenomics Laboratories posted the third-largest decline in stock price in September, with shares down 11 percent. The company suffered a legal blow during the month as its competitor Natera won a permanent injunction that will prevent NeoGenomics from selling its RaDaR assay in the US. The company said it is developing a new assay that will not infringe Natera's IP.