Are investors rotating into the lagging healthcare sector?
Biotech, drug and device stocks were up broadly today. The healthcare sector has lagged the market YTD up only 1.35% compared to the S&P up 11.2%. Even major drug stocks, down 2.4% YTD, got strong bids. Medical equipment and supplies as a category are up 2.5% today led by major players. Several biotech and diagnostic stocks in the Rayno Life Science Portfolio were strong today:
Amgen (AMGN $56.63)
Amgen is up 4.66% today on 17 M shares after the Company reported yesterday that its prostate drug XGEVA (Denosumab) helped patients live longer without the disease spreading to their bones. The pivotal Phase 3 “147” study met its primary endpoint in 1,432 men with castrate- resistant prostate cancer and improved median bone metastases free survival by 4.2 mos. compared to placebo.”Our data demonstrates that XGEVA, which antagonizes the RANK ligand axis limits the ability of tumors to colonize bone, an important finding for men at risk for bone metastases and their healthcare providers,” said Roger M. Perimutter,M.D.,Ph.D, executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen.
Exact Sciences (EXAS)
Exact Sciences (EXAS) was up over 5% today on volume of 381k shares. William Blair initiated coverage at an Outperform. Now there are 8 analysts covering EXAS. Exact is developing a molecular diagnostic stool DNA test that detects both cancer and pre-cancer. On November 10 the Company raised $64.7M at a stock price of $6. EXAS was added to the Rayno Dx and Tools Model Portfolio at a price of $5.60.
The Rayno Life Science Portfolio had several big movers today: Alexion(ALXN $77.85) up 3.6%, Exelixis (EXEL $7.19) up 5.5%, GenProbe (GPRO $56.56) up 2.8%, Immucor (BLUD $20.12) up 3.7% and Qiagen (QGEN $20) up 2.4%.
Genoptix(GXDX $21) was up 16.75% today on news that it is for sale. Genoptix is a laboratory service provider focused on oncology and hematology with revenues forecasted at $194M and an EPS of $1.00 for 2010. A market cap of $370M gives GXDX a Price to Sales of 1.9.