NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Shares of Complete Genomics climbed 83 percent in April, after the firm's CEO presented an update on the company's business at a conference and analysts increased their revenue expectations.
Complete Genomics led all shares in the GenomeWeb Daily News Index, which gained 8 percent amid a strong month for the stock market in general, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 4 percent, the Nasdaq up 3 percent, and the Nasdaq Biotech Index up 7 percent.
In mid-April, Complete Genomics CEO Clifford Reid said at the Future Leaders in Biotech Industry Conference that the firm shipped 600 genomes to customers in the first quarter of 2011 — a 20 percent increase over estimates that it provided in mid-March. That announcement led several analysts to increase their revenue estimates for the firm.
An announcement early in the month that Laboratory Corporation of America would buy Orchid Cellmark for $85.4 million pushed Orchid's shares up 39 percent for the month. And a report last week that said Gen-Probe had put itself up for sale pushed that firm's shares up 25 percent for the month.
Shares of CombiMatrix climbed 30 percent in April. Early in the month, the firm raised $6.7 million in a private placement. It subsequently announced an agreement under which GE Healthcare's Clarient business had licensed rights to commercialize CombiMatrix's DNA array product portfolio.
Shares of GenMark Diagnostics also had a strong month, rising 26 percent after the firm appointed a new CEO with vast experience in the diagnostics industry.
Of the 11 stocks in the GWDN Index that declined during the month, Rosetta Genomics had the steepest drop, falling 26 percent. The firm announced early in the month that its fourth-quarter revenues had fallen 62 percent year over year, and that it would delay its planned launch of its miRview kidney test for the identification of four histological types of renal tumors, and its miRview meso prognostic for sub-classifying mesothelioma patients.
