360Dx Top 30 Rebounds in July After June Swoon

NEW YORK – Following declining share prices in June, the 360Dx Top 30 bounced back in July, rising 10 percent.

The Top 30 followed the trends of the broader market as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7 percent month over month and the Nasdaq increased 12 percent. Meantime, the Nasdaq Biotech Index grew 4 percent.

The Top 30's highest gainers were Dermtech (+48 percent), Myriad Genetics (+45 percent), and Accelerate Diagnostics (+35 percent). The decliners were led by Genetron (-37 percent), Invitae (-22 percent), and Opko Health (-7 percent).

Dermtech had no significant news last month to explain its share price gain, but the firm's relatively low stock price makes it particularly susceptible to small fluctuations in the market.

Myriad Genetics also did not have news that would explain its increase in stock price.

The key update from Accelerate Diagnostics last month was the announcement that its Accelerate Arc Module and BC kit received CE marking. The platform is designed for the rapid microbial identification of positive blood cultures through MALDI mass spec instruments. It uses inline centrifugation and automated sample prep techniques that, combined with the blood culture kit, provide a suspension of cleaned microbial cells that can then be directly transferred to a MALDI spotting plate.

Genetron also had little news to explain its share price decline but, like Dermtech, it has a lower starting price that makes it sensitive to changes in the market.

In contrast, an announced restructuring plan drove Invitae's falling stock price last month. The company announced the plan in mid-July, saying it would eliminate non-core operations and geographies to focus on business lines that deliver sustainable margins and returns, such as oncology and women's health. The firm will also lay off more than 1,000 employees and has changed its executive leadership and board of directors.

In a note to investors, Cowen's Dan Brennan said that the restructuring "was a step in the right direction," but that the uncertainty surrounding how management will "handle upcoming debt maturities remained a key question."

SVB Securities' Puneet Souda wrote in a note that the changes come "with further risks," such as the possibility of more workers leaving after layoffs and potentially facing "further market share loss from the ongoing restructuring." The initiatives "put [Invitae's] core growth thesis at risk," he said.

At the same time, the company announced preliminary Q2 revenues that fell short of analyst expectations, while it reduced its yearly revenue guidance.

Meantime, Opko Health's stock price drop was likely caused by a settlement between its subsidiary BioReference Health and the federal government and states of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The subsidiary will pay $10 million to the federal government and the two states to resolve self-referral and false claims allegations after a whistleblower claimed the firm paid kickbacks to encourage lab testing referrals from high-volume doctor groups and disguised the kickbacks as rental payments.

*Abbott paid a dividend of $.47 per share on July 14.

**PerkinElmer paid a dividend of $.07 per share on July 21. 

***Quest Diagnostics paid a dividend of $.66 per share on July 5.