360Dx Top 30 Continues Rise in July, Increasing 4 Percent

NEW YORK – Rebounding from a decline earlier in the year, the 360Dx Top 30 continued to rise in July, up another 4 percent after a 4 percent increase in June.

The Top 30 mirrored the broader market as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3 percent month over month and the Nasdaq rose 4 percent. The Nasdaq Biotech Index ticked up 1 percent.

The Top 30's highest gainers were CareDx (+28 percent), Adaptive Biotechnologies (+26 percent), and Invitae (+26 percent). The decliners were led by LumiraDx (-27 percent), Accelerate Diagnostics (-18 percent), and Burning Rock Biotech (-16 percent).

CareDx's stock price benefited last month from the announcement that its AlloSure Lung test for lung transplant rejection monitoring has received coverage from the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' MolDx program for the surveillance of lung transplant patients.

Alex Nowak, an analyst with Craig-Hallum, wrote in a note to investors that the coverage likely equates to a $9 million yearly uplift to revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

In addition, the company announced at the end of July that it acquired organ transplant supply chain and logistics company MediGo for an undisclosed amount, which it expects to expand CareDx's digital health portfolio and pre-transplant offerings.

Also in July, CareDx faced a defeat in court when the US District Court for the District of Delaware found Natera not guilty of unfair competition against CareDx, essentially reversing a verdict made last year.

Neither Adaptive Biotechnologies nor Invitae had significant news in July to explain their stock price increases, although Invitae has a low starting share price that makes it susceptible to fluctuations in the market.

Among the decliners, LumiraDx in July amended its credit agreement with Pharmakon Advisors to waive the minimum liquidity covenant until Sept. 1, as long as the consolidated liquidity during the waiver period is at least $5 million. Pharmakon also agreed to an additional set of term loans for up to $31 million in aggregate during the waiver period.

According to a note from Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar, the amendments would be triggered if LumiraDx raised about $75 million in qualifying financing. He said that previous amendments were seen as a "positive catalyst" that would allow the firm to address liquidity concerns, but that the continuous push-out of the timeline suggests the company "is having a tougher time than anticipated to complete its qualifying financing, which does not bode well."

However, they noted that the additional term loan provides some breathing room for LumiraDx to "get over the finish line."

LumiraDx also said at the end of the month that Swiss firm Axonlab will distribute its point-of-care molecular diagnostic platform in Switzerland and Germany.

Meantime, Accelerate Diagnostics last month executed a 1-for-10 reverse stock split of its outstanding shares of common stock in an attempt to regain compliance with Nasdaq's minimum bid price requirement of $1.00 per share. The split reduced the firm's outstanding common shares from about 144 million to about 14 million.

Burning Rock Biotech also did not have significant news to explain its stock decline last month, although like Invitae it has a low starting share price that can lead to dramatic changes in its stock price.

*Abbott paid a dividend of $.51 per share on July 13.

**Accelerate Diagnostics underwent a 1-for-10 reverse stock split on July 12.

***Labcorp underwent an 1164:1000 stock split on July 3.

****Quest Diagnostics paid a dividend of $.71 per share on July 10.

*****Revvity paid a dividend of $.07 per share on July 20.