Two health care companies most investors might not be familiar with were among the four biggest stock market gainers in the first quarter, according to an analysis by Evaluate.
Lantheus Holdings Inc. (LNTH, Financial) and Ipsen S.A. (IPSEY, Financial) joined household names Bayer AG (XTER:BAYN, Financial) and AbbVie Inc. (ABBV, Financial) at the top of the list of companies that had the highest increases in share price during the first three months of the year.
Investors continue to favor members of Big Pharma owing to their size and established products while riskier biotech stocks continued to struggle, a carryover from last year.
Lantheus bucked the trend with a share price boost of 91%, the best among small-cap health care equities. The Massachusetts-based developer of diagnostic and therapeutic products for heart, cancer and other diseases is still on a roll. Trading at $63.76, the company’s stock has added another 15% since the end of March.
According to Yahoo Finance, analysts think it still has room to run, rating it between a buy and strong buy with an average target price of $69.50 and a high of $77.
France’s Ipsen was the king of health care mid-caps, bringing a smile to investors’ faces with a 41% gain in value in the first quarter. In the past year, shares of the provider of drugs for oncology, neuroscience, gastroenterology, cognitive disorders and rare diseases have risen 26% to $30.54.
Among large-cap gainers, the moves up were relatively tame, especially compared with past years. AbbVie rose 20% and went on to hit a record high in April on the strength of the approval of its highly touted treatment for ulcerative colitis, Rinvoq. In the past year, the Chicago-based company’s shares have shot up about 43%. Its returns are even better when factoring in a sweet dividend, which yields 3.60%.
On top of its 31% gain in the first quarter, Bayer has added another 5% since, pushing the shares up to just over $61. Proving that bad news can be good news for investors, the company’s stock climbed late last month on a report that long-time investor Temasek Holdings Pte is pushing to oust CEO Werner Baumann.
Baumann was due for a win in the first quarter given Bayer shares have declined by more than one-third since he took the helm in May 2016.
And then there’s the other side of the coin, companies that suffered price declines in the first three months of the year. Topping the roster of Big Pharma losers was Pfizer Inc. (PFE, Financial), which saw 12% shaved off its value as investors expressed concerns that sales of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine would slow dramatically after a record-setting year in 2021.
Pfizer’s Covid shot partner, BioNTech SE (BNTX, Financial), suffered a similar fate, dropping a whopping 34% in the first quarter. The German company’s woes have continued since then, with its shares fading another $30 to about $149.
Investors who decided to hold onto their Novavax Inc. (NVAX, Financial) shares after they sunk nearly 50% in the first quarter have to be second-guessing themselves as the value of their holding has dropped another 33% since then, to about $49.50.
Forbes reported shares of the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based vaccine manufacturer have been under pressure as the company builds its manufacturing capacity and works to demonstrate the purity of its Covid shot to U.S. regulators.
Novavax has a history of losing money. That streak continued last year when the company lost $23.44 per share, well over the $13.70 analysts had predicted. This year, analysts are looking for Novavax to become profitable with per-share earnings of $22.84.
Like its namesake, Kodiak Sciences Inc. (KOD, Financial) shares are in the middle of a bear market. According to the Evaluate analysis, the stock of the Palo Alto, California-based biopharma plunged 91% in the first quarter to lead all small caps. Things couldn’t get worse, right? Uh-uh. Since the beginning of April, it has shed another 18% to $6.42. How the mighty have fallen; Kodiak hit a high of $132 in the past 12 months.
The company suffered a huge sell-off two months ago when a late-stage trial of its treatment for macular degeneration failed to hit its target. With this disappointing news, $1.2 billion in annual sales evaporated and also blocked—maybe for good—the company’s ability to become a business with positive cash flow.
Largest share price gains in the first quarter
- AbbVie, 20%
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY, Financial), 17%
- AstraZeneca (AZN, Financial), 14%
- Bayer, 31%
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX, Financial), 19%
- Ipsen, 41%
- Exelixis Inc. (EXEL, Financial), 24%
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (JAZZ, Financial), 22%
- Lantheus, 91%
- BioDelivery Sciences International Inc. (BDSI), 80%
- Ascletis Pharma Inc. (HKSE:01672, Financial), 58%
Biggest share price drops
- Pfizer, -12%
- Roche (RHHBY, Financial), -3%
- Novartis (NVS, Financial), 0%
- BioNTech, -34%
- Moderna Inc. (MRNA, Financial), -32%
- BeiGene (BGNE, Financial), -30%
- Novavax, -49%
- HUTCHMED (China) Ltd. (HCM), -46%
- Innovent Biologics Inc. (HKSE:01801), -44%
- Kodiak Sciences, -91%
- ProQR Therapeutics N.V. (PRQR), -88%
- MEI Pharma Inc. (MEIP), -77%
