360Dx Top 30 Drops 9 Percent in February

NEW YORK – The 360Dx Top 30 declined nearly 9 percent month over month in February, resetting from its 10 percent leap in January to start the year.

The Top 30 fell further than the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which declined 2 percent, and the Nasdaq, which was down 4 percent compared to January. The Nasdaq Biotech Index was essentially flat month over month.

The Top 30's largest gainers were GeneDx (+37 percent), Grail (+27 percent), and Opko Health (+14 percent). The main decliners were NeoGenomics (-30 percent), Bio-Rad Laboratories (-27 percent), Veracyte (-24 percent), and Castle Biosciences (-23 percent).

GeneDx had a particularly busy February, as it started the month with a share decline due to a report from a short seller that accused the company of "fraudulent schemes" and other misdeeds that inflated its revenues and led to an increase in its stock price. However, several Wall Street analysts said they believed most of the claims in the report were false or unrelated to GeneDx's current operations.

Wells Fargo equity analyst Brandon Couillard said in a note to investors that "most/all claims raised in the report are either false, misplaced, and/or unrelated to current GeneDx [operations]."

Later in February, the firm's stock price jumped after GeneDx announced the integration of its tests with Epic Systems' electronic health record software, allowing clinicians to use Epic's Aura specialty diagnostics suite to order all of GeneDx's tests.

Rounding out the month, GeneDx's stock skyrocketed after the firm reported solid financial results for Q4 2024 and provided positive 2025 financial guidance. The company's Q4 revenues jumped 64 percent year over year to $95.6 million, exceeding the consensus Wall Street estimate of $82.2 million. GeneDx also forecast 2025 revenues in the range of $350 million to $360 million and projected exome and genome testing volume and revenues to grow at least 30 percent in 2025.

The "solid but still conservative guide struck a lot of the right chords," TD Cowen analyst Dan Brennan wrote in a note to investors after the firm's Q4 results.

Like GeneDx, Grail also saw its stock price buoyed by news of an integration and solid financial results. Last month, the company announced that Quest Diagnostics added Grail's multi-cancer early detection test Galleri to its offerings. As a result, more than 500,000 clinicians in the US will be able to directly order Galleri through Quest's connectivity system.

Later in the month, Grail announced that its Q4 2024 revenues rose 26 percent due to strong sales of Galleri. Galleri revenue increased 39 percent and the company said it sold more than 137,000 Galleri tests in 2024. The firm's full-year 2024 revenues grew 35 percent year over year.

Opko Health also announced its Q4 2024 financial results last month, reporting that its revenues declined 17 percent but surpassed the consensus Wall Street estimate.

Like the gainers, last month's largest decliners were also impacted by fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 financial results. NeoGenomics reported last month that its Q4 revenues increased 11 percent year over year but missed analysts' consensus estimate, as the firm did not see an anticipated bump in pharma revenues in Q4. Full-year 2024 revenues rose 12 percent but also slightly missed the analysts' average estimate.

Bio-Rad Laboratories was also impacted by its financial results announcement last month as it reported that fourth quarter revenues declined 2 percent and full-year sales were down 4 percent. Additionally, the company said that it is acquiring French dPCR firm Stilla Technologies for approximately $225 million in cash and potential future milestone payments of up to $50 million. Stilla's Nio+ digital PCR system is expected to contribute to Bio-Rad's bottom line by 2026, Bio-Rad said.

In addition, Bio-Rad was the subject of a lawsuit filed by the California Institute of Technology last month alleging patent infringement related to multiplex PCR technology.

Veracyte, meantime, said while reporting its Q4 financial results that it has instructed its French subsidiary Veracyte SAS to begin looking for a buyer. It has not decided whether it will drop the business, which to date has been focused on supporting Veracyte's immune-oncology biopharma business, contract development and manufacturing, and support for its in vitro diagnostic development and manufacturing.

The company also announced that its Q4 2024 revenue grew 21 percent year over year.

Castle Biosciences' only key news last month was the announcement at the end of the month that its Q4 revenues were up 31 percent and full-year 2024 revenues rose 51 percent year over year. BTIG analyst Mark Massaro wrote in a note to investors that although this will be a year "with some uncertainty," largely related to the reimbursement status of Castle's DecisionDx-SCC test, Castle still anticipates being profitable.

*Bio-Techne paid a dividend of $.08 per share on February 14.

**Labcorp paid a dividend of $.72 per share on February 27.