The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index tracks 500 publicly listed companies selected by committee and having three requirements: market caps greater than or equal to $5.3 billion, annual dollar value traded to float-adjusted market cap greater than 1.0 and minimum monthly trading volume of 250,000 shares in the trailing six months of the evaluation date.
After a volatile second half, stocks of the index have returned a modest 0.9% year to date, led by giant gains in growth stocks such as Amazon (AMZN, Financial) (up 118%) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX, Financial) (up 140%).
While S&P 500 stocks garner much interest, approximately 3,700 publicly traded on exchanges in the U.S. in 2015.
A screen for non-S&P 500, non-OTC stocks shows that the top 13 of these stocks outperformed the top S&P 500 stock, Netflix, this year, with the highest, Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc. (EGRX, Financial) gaining 462%.
The five best-performing non-S&P 500 stocks of 2015 were: Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc., Exelixis Inc. (EXEL, Financial), Galapagos NV (GLPG, Financial), Prothena Corp. PLC (PRTA, Financial) and Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ANAC, Financial).
Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc. (EGRX, Financial)
Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares soared 462% year to date, close to a two-year high. The drug company has a $1.37 billion market cap. Shares surged in February when the company announced it reached a deal with Teva Pharmaceuticals to commercialize its bendamustine hydrochloride rapid infusion product for the treatment of leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Later in February it also received seven years of market exclusivity from the FDA for Ryanodex, a treatment for malignant hyperthermia.
For the recent third quarter, Eagle Pharmaceuticals reported increased revenue of $5.7 million from $2.8 million the same period last year. The company also had a net loss of $10.2 million, or 65 cents per diluted share, and a net loss of $9.1 million, or 65 cents per diluted share. Cash on the company’s balance sheet totaled $96.0 million at quarter end.
Eagle Pharmaceuticals has a P/B ratio of 16.2 and P/S ratio of 60.2.
Exelixis Inc. (EXEL, Financial)
Shares of Exelixis rose 300% this year to trade around $5.80 on Wednesday morning. The company, which develops cancer treatments, received a boost in its share price in July when it announced positive results from its Phase 3 trial of Meteor, its carcinoma drug.
For the third quarter Exelixis recorded revenues of $9.9 million, an increase from $6.3 million for the third quarter the previous year, consisting of $6.9 million in net product revenue from sales of its drug Cometriq, and $3.0 million in contract revenue. It also produced a net loss of $47.6 million, or 22 cents per shares, compared to $62.6 million, or 32 cents per share. Balance sheet cash for the company totaled $282.1 million at the end of the third quarter, up from $242.8 million and the end of last year.
Exelixis also has a P/S ratio of 33.2.
Galapagos NV ADR (GLPG, Financial)
Investors traded up Galapagos NV ADR shares 239% year to date, to a price of $62.74 on Wednesday morning, near its two-year high.
Galapagos is a clinical-stage biotech company based in Belgium with a market cap of $2.43 billion. For the third quarter the company produced revenues of €47.2 million, a drop from €62.7 million a year prior, with a net loss of €61.4 million, compared to a net result of €42.5 million for the same periods. Its cash balance stood at €374.4 million, up from €216.6 million the prior year.
Galapagos has a P/E ratio of 51.99, P/B of 5.03 and P/S near its two-year high of 24.2.
Prothena Corp. PLC (PRTA, Financial)
Shares of Ireland-based Prothena Corp. PLC have climbed 242% this year to trade around $70.83 on Wednesday, close to a three-year high.
The company, with a $2.25 billion market cap, develops protein immunotherapies for diseases such as Parkinson’s and psoriasis. It produced $0.4 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2015, compared to $1.5 million for the third quarter of 2014. Its net loss was $23.0 million, or 73 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $13.2 million, or 48 cents per share, for the same periods. At quarter end Prothena had $387.8 million in cash and no outstanding debt on its balance sheet.
Prothena also has a P/B ratio of 5.91, near a three-year high.
Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ANAC, Financial)
Anacor Pharmaceuticals stock price increased 249% year to date, including a pop of more than a hundred percent in July. Shares traded around $112.56 on Wednesday.
Anacor is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies using a boron chemistry platform whose leading products and candidates are an antifungal and a treatment for dermatitis and psoriasis. Its share price jump in July coincided with the announcement of positive top-line results from two Phase 3 studies of its product Crisaborole, a treatment for dermatitis.
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