Life Science Sector Update August 2024
Nothing seems be happening lately in the market as we wait for Nvidia earnings. It’s the slowest week of the year, we are at the market top and most earnings reports are good. And FED Chairman Powell recently indicated a rate cut is coming in September. Smooth sailing ahead so it seems although the next two months are seasonally weak and choppy. Maybe the recent 10% correction brought us calm because we have come all the way back. But there is still a feeling of unrest maybe because of the election year jitters.
Meanwhile the defensively oriented healthcare sector is catching up with the general market as the XLV is up 3.77% for the month and 14.10% YTD, compared to the S&P 500 up 3.14% for the month and 18.15% YTD. Over the past month sector performance has been broadening out with the financials, industrials and materials outperforming technology (XLK) down 3.31% QTD. The QQQ is up 2.47% for one month and 15.94% YTD.
Life science stocks are having a good year particularly our Large Cap Biopharma picks as you can see from previous artlcles. All of our top picks have beat the QQQ by a huge %: ABBV, LLY, REGN and VRTX (stay tuned for large cap biopharma review by next Monday).Recently we added Astra Zeneca (AZN) at a price of about $85 now at $87.42 up 29.8% YTD. GILD also looks good at $79 down 2.47% YTD.The major biotech ETFs are lagging like the IBB is down 0.26% MTD and 8.85% YTD now near 2024 highs at $147.87. The small cap weighted more speculative XBI is down 0.46% MTD, and 1up 3.18% YTD just off the 2024 high of $102.89. The MOmentum of the more speculative SMID caps has been good lately so we added the ARKG Genomic Revolution ETF last week at about $26 and it is down 1.73% MTD and down 18.44% YTD. The ARKG high for 2024 was $32.96.
Update 8/28 at the close: Top Biopharmas-Large Caps
| 2022 | 11/11/23 | 8/4 | %YTD | 5 Yr % | P | % YTD | ||
| 8/28/24 | ||||||||
| ABBV | 161.64 | 138.59 | 185.28 | 22.16 | 189.68 | 195.4 | 26.09 | |
| AMGN | 333.99 | 15.96 | 78.39 | 329.49 | 14.4 | |||
| AZN | 68 | 63.17 | 81.81 | 21.47 | 79.57 | 87.36 | 29.71 | |
| BMY | 71.05 | 50.61 | 48.77 | -4.95 | 6.04 | 49.06 | -4.39 | |
| GILD | 85.39 | 75.92 | 76.77 | -5.23 | -18.2 | 78.56 | -3.02 | |
| LLY | 447.71 | 597.71 | 804.46 | 38 | 615.58 | 948.94 | 62.79 | |
| MRK | 110.95 | 101.39 | 115.2 | 5.67 | 42.93 | 117.4 | 7.89 | |
| PFE | 51.24 | 29.48 | 30.43 | 5.7 | -15.6 | 28.75 | 0.14 | |
| REGN | 725 | 798.94 | 1082.19 | 23.22 | 254.44 | 1199 | 36.55 | |
| VRTX | 288.78 | 373.65 | 494.46 | 21.52 | 177.18 | 489.73 | 20.36 | |
Last week we updated significant trades in our Life Science Picks and recently we happily noted CorMedix (CRMD) made a big move up 29.1% over 5 days and 64.10% YTD with no particular news driving the stock but a strong Business Update from the Company. CorMedix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for life-threatening diseases and conditions. In this quarter the Company launched its DefenCath product in the outpatient setting with initial sales of $5.2M QTD as of August 13.
In our last market update we tracked a number of trades from our Life Science Focus list and despite the volatility the performance has been good. This speculative list of trades has been screened for balance sheet, analyst coverage and unique technology. We are developing an algorithm to track momentum and financial performance over a quarterly period. But how can one follow so many stocks? Like Tempus AI (TEM) which has soared from $41 to $71.44 in one month and is now at the $65 level?
NOTE: This is not a “buy and hold” list but a guide for active traders. DATA as of 8/17/24.
Rayno Life Science Trades-Small and MidCap (SMID)
| P 1/20/23 | Initial | 2/4/23 | 12/24/23 | 4/8/24 | 8/17/24 | ||||||||||||
| Company | Ticker | $ | P | YTD % | YTD | %YTD | %MTD | Rate | cash | MktCAP | |||||||
| P | P | % | P | Trade | $M | $-ooo- | |||||||||||
| Acumen Therap | ABOS | 5.29 | 3.57 | -33.89 | 3.17 | -17.45 | 2.57 | -33.07 | -18.4 | H | 281 | 154 | |||||
| Adaptive BiioTech | ADPT | 4.11 | 5 | 2.6 | -46.94 | 4.83 | -1.43 | 8.54 | H,$ | 291 | 712.3 | ||||||
| Avidity Sciences | RNA | new | 7/1/24 | 25 | 44.98 | 397 | -3.64 | – | 185+ | 5,270 | |||||||
| Catalyst Pharma | CPRX | 16.1 | 16.58 | -10.86 | 14.89 | 11.42 | 19.87 | 18.2 | 16.9 | H | 137+ | 2,360 | |||||
| Caribou Biosci | CRBU | 6.29 | 6.17 | -0.175 | 3.71 | -35.25 | 2.09 | -63.53 | -23.44 | H,$ | 311.8 | 188.86 | |||||
| CorMedix | CRMD | 3.9 | 5.31 | 41.22 | 4.81 | 27.83 | -3.8 | H,$ | 45.6 | 268.7 | |||||||
| Crenetics | CRNX | 42.12 | 18.38 | 51.62 | 45 | -6.11 | – | 500 | 4,130 | ||||||||
| CRSPR Therap | CRSP | 49.61 | -25 | 55.27 | 63.67 | 56.63 | 53.91 | -13.88 | 47.85 | -23.56 | -23.75 | H | 2,000 | 4,080 | |||
| Cryoport | CYRX | 21.75 | -42.34 | 25.24 | 16.09 | -7.26 | 16.38 | 5.75 | 9.01 | -41.83 | 3.92 | H,L | 700? | 445 | |||
| Cytokinetics | CYTK | 31 | 65.34 | -21.74 | 56.5 | -22.33 | -0.46 | – | 1,400 | 6.,650 | |||||||
| Denali | DNLI | 22 | 19.21 | -9 | 23.02 | 7.27 | -3.84 | – | 1350 | 3,300 | |||||||
| Exelixis | EXEL | 22.25 | 23.75 | -1.21 | 26.35 | 9.84 | 15.77 | H | 262? | 7,520 | |||||||
| Evolent Health | EVH | 30.83 | 13.74 | 31.96 | 32.08 | 14.25 | 27.65 | -16.29 | 27.38 | -17.11 | 26.06 | S,L | *37 wc | 3,180 | |||
| Geron | GERN | 3.19 | 9.24 | 3.22 | 2.29 | -5.37 | 3.79 | 79.62 | 4.5 | 113.3 | -9.82 | S,H,$ | *269 | 2,710 | |||
| Humacyte | HUMA | new | 8/1/24 | 8.25 | 6.48 | 128.17 | -26.28 | – | *80 | 773 | |||||||
| Intelllia | NTLA | 25.5 | 22.63 | (25.78 | -17.26 | H | 130 | 2,380 | |||||||||
| Immatics | IMTX | 9.3 | 9.9 | 13.66 | 10 | -4.94 | 11.51 | 9.31 | -8.29 | H | 569 | 1,180 | |||||
| Natera | NTRA | 60 | 91.66 | 46.33 | 123.98 | 100.23 | 22.57 | S,$ | 796.8 | 15,330 | |||||||
| Pacific Biosci | PACB | 11.29 | 55.68 | 11.58 | 8.59 | 5 | 1.47 | -85 | 1.56 | (83.790 | -10.34 | H,L | 99 | 425,000 | |||
| Novavax | NVAX | 3.67 | – | 12.96 | 170 | 921.17) | S,H,$ | 487.2 | 2,017,000 | ||||||||
| Recursion Pharm | RXRX | 10.75 | 8.12 | -17.65 | 6.74 | -31.64 | -22.63 | S,$ | 483 | 1,900 | |||||||
| Rezolute | RZLT | new | 7/8/24 | 4.25 | 4.24 | 327 | -11.13 | S $ | 80 | 234 | |||||||
| Roivant | ROIV | 11.4 | 11.03 | -1.78 | 11.19 | -0.36 | -3.62 | – | 5,695 | 8,280 | |||||||
| Supernus | SUPN | 40.3 | 12.3 | 41.61 | 29.23 | -18.05 | 30.07 | 3.9 | 34.55 | 19.38 | 19.38 | H | 350 | 1,900 | |||
| Tempest AI | TEM | new | 7/10/24 | 50.88 | 26.41 | 24.89 | H S$ | 479 | 7,850 | ||||||||
| Twist Biosci | TWST | 18 | 3.76 | 34.03 | 31.54 | -14.53 | 43.56 | 18.18 | -25.74 | S,H,$ | 289 | 2,555 | |||||
| 10x Genomics | TXG | 47.84 | 56.58 | 55.27 | 27.59 | -50.79 | 21.75 | -61.13 | 8.75 | S,$ | 379.8 | 2,620 | |||||
| Vericel | VCEL | 31 | 34.75 | 31.93 | 46.05 | 29.32 | 46.28 | 29.96 | -11.37 | H | 102.5 | 2,270 | |||||
| Veracyte | VCYT | 24.89 | 39.43 | 26.67 | 28.27 | 19.13 | 19.31 | -29.81 | 32.85 | 19.41 | 28.52 | H,S$ | 216 | 2,520 | |||
| SPDR Biotech | XBI | 86.99 | 14.75 | 90.39 | 87.62 | 5.57 | 83.49 | -6.51 | 97.77 | 9.5 | -4.01 | H,S,$ | – | ||||
| iShares BIO | IBB | 133.77 | -1.89 | 132.51 | -2.48 | 144.85 | 6.62 | -2.08 | – | ||||||||
| HealthcareSPDR | XLV | 135.02 | – | 143.22 | 5.02 | 152.87 | 12.09 | 2.01 | – | ||||||||
| wildcard | |||||||||||||||||
| ArkGenomics | ARKG | 35.28 | 32.81 | 16.22 | 23.18 | -29.35 | 26 | -20.76 | -5.14 | h | |||||||
| T.RowePrice | PRHSX | 86.84 | -3.32 | 92.49 | 5.22 | 99.68 | 13.4 | – | H,$ | ||||||||