360Dx Top 30 Starts the Year up 1 Percent

Note: The 360Dx Top 30 has been updated with new entries Cue Health and LumiraDx based on market cap as of beginning of trading in January 2023. Meridian Bioscience was removed after its acquisition by SD Biosensor and SJL Partners, and Renalytix was removed due to its low market cap. As a reminder, we only consider firms for this list that trade common stock on one of the major US stock exchanges. We will reevaluate at the half-year point for any changes.

NEW YORK – The 360Dx Top 30 opened 2023 with a 1 percent gain after dipping at the end of 2022.

The Top 30 mirrored the broader market as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3 percent month over month, while the Nasdaq was up 11 percent. The Nasdaq Biotech Index also increased nearly 4 percent.

The Top 30's highest gainers were DermTech (+205 percent), Exact Sciences (+36 percent), and Myriad Genetics (+36 percent). The decliners were led by Quest Diagnostics (-5 percent), Bio-Techne (-4 percent), and Accelerate Diagnostics (-3 percent).

DermTech's stock price tripled last month on the news of expanded insurance coverage for its DermTech Melanoma test. The firm announced at the beginning of January that four Blue Cross Blue Shield payors would cover the test and said a week later that the foundational assay included in its test would also be covered by military health system TRICARE. Later in the month, the company said two additional payors — a Blue Cross Blue Shield company in Hawaii and a nonprofit health plan in New York — would cover the test.

Exact Sciences' stock price was likely boosted by the announcement of its preliminary Q4 and full-year financial results last month. The firm forecast a 16 to 17 percent increase in Q4 revenues year over year, as well as an increase of 18 percent in full-year 2022 revenues compared to 2021.

Myriad Genetics did not report significant news last month, although it did highlight its upcoming product launches for the year at the 41st Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. In addition, investment bank Raymond James upgraded Myriad to Outperform from Market Perform and raised its price target to $25.

One of Quest Diagnostics' only pieces of news last month was the announcement that it would offer Agilent Technologies' liquid biopsy companion diagnostic test for non-small cell lung cancer treatment. The next-generation sequencing-based assay to determine whether patients will benefit from Mirati Therapeutics' Krazati (adagrasib) will be available for ordering through Quest's electronic health record platform.

Evercore ISI also in January initiated coverage of Quest with an In-Line Rating and price target of $159. In a note to investors, Evercore analyst Elizabeth Anderson said that consolidation within the lab industry and an improved operating environment favor Quest and forecast long-term growth of 4 to 5 percent in the company's base business.

Bio-Techne had little to explain its stock price drop in January, as its only notable news was the launch of its RNAscope Plus smRNA-RNA detection assay, which enables the simultaneous fluorescent detection of a small regulatory RNA and three target RNAs or RNA biomarkers in the same tissue section at single-cell and subcellular resolution.

Accelerate Diagnostics also did not have significant news last month but has a low share price that makes it susceptible to small changes in the market.

*Abbott paid a dividend of $.51 per share on Jan. 12.

**PerkinElmer paid a dividend of $.07 per share on Jan. 19. 

***Quest Diagnostics paid a dividend of $.66 per share on Jan. 17.