360Dx Top 30 Slides 1 Percent in January

Note: The 360Dx Top 30 has been updated with new entries Biodesix, MDxHealth, OraSure Technologies, and Sera Prognostics based on market cap as of beginning of trading in January 2024. LumiraDx was removed due to the acquisition of most of its assets by Roche, and Accelerate Diagnostics, Burning Rock Biotech, and Cue Health were removed due to their low market caps. As a reminder, we only consider firms for this list that trade their common shares on one of the major US stock exchanges. We will reevaluate at the half-year point for any changes.

NEW YORK – After two months of upward growth, the 360Dx Top 30 saw a slight backwards slide in January, falling 1 percent month over month.

The decrease was contrasted by broader market trends. Last month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq both rose 1 percent from December, while the Nasdaq Biotech Index was essentially flat month over month.

The Top 30's largest gainers were Sera Prognostics (+17 percent), Myriad Genetics (+12 percent), and Biodesix (+9 percent). The decliners were led by Invitae (-38 percent), Opko Health (-32 percent), and DermTech (-31 percent).

Sera Prognostics and Biodesix had no key news last month to explain the rise in their share prices.

In contrast, Myriad Genetics announced in January that it will acquire select assets from Intermountain Precision Genomics' laboratory business, including the Precise Tumor Test, the Precise Liquid Test, and IPG's CLIA-certified laboratory business in Utah, for an undisclosed amount. Myriad said the assets will open up new opportunities for growth and support continued development of its oncology portfolio.

The firm also provided Q4 preliminary financial results at the 42nd Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, with CEO Paul Diaz reporting that revenue is expected to be between $196 million and $197 million, slightly above analysts' consensus estimate. Adjusted earnings per share is expected to be between $.02 and $.03, also beating the consensus estimate.

Cowen analyst Dan Brennan said in a note to investors that although the revenue beat is modest, "the company has now delivered upside in six of the last eight quarters, a testament to more consistent [management] execution."

Among the decliners, Invitae's key piece of news in January was the announcement that it has sold some of its reproductive health assets to Natera, including those related to its carrier screening and noninvasive prenatal screening business, for up to $52.5 million.

Opko Health, meantime, saw its shares plummet early in the month after announcing it was undergoing a private offering of $200.0 million of its convertible senior notes due in 2029. The firm said it also expected to grant the initial purchaser in the offering the option to purchase up to an additional $30.0 million of the notes. The offering closed later in January for $230.0 million, with the firm receiving estimated net proceeds of about $221.4 million. About $50.0 million of the proceeds were used to repurchase shares of common stock and $146.3 million were used to repurchase for cash about $144.4 million in aggregate principal amount from its outstanding 4.50 percent convertible senior notes due in 2025.

Meantime, DermTech said in mid-January that it is discontinuing the optional TERT promoter mutation add-on assay for its DermTech Melanoma test, effective March 1. Less than one-third of patient samples contain sufficient genomic material for TERT analysis in the clinical setting, DermTech said.

On Wednesday, the company announced a further restructuring of its operations that includes layoffs of 30 employees on top of a reduction of 40 employees in June.

*Abbott paid a dividend of $.55 per share on Jan. 11.

**Qiagen paid a dividend of $1.32 per share on Jan. 30.

***Quest Diagnostics paid a dividend of $.71 per share on Jan. 16.

****Revvity paid a dividend of $.07 per share on Jan. 18.