April 15, 2014
Q1 2014 Share Price Performance
In my regular quarterly analysis of the Canadian healthcare industry, I will again explore the performance of the performance of the various categories of companies. In order to assess share price performance among the Canadian public healthcare companies, I select a portfolio of companies which are then categorized in two ways: share price to start the year and type of company. The share price categories in 2013 and 2014 are the same: $1.00 or more, $0.10 to $0.99 and less than $0.10. Compared to my 2013 analysis, several changes have been made to the categorization of companies:
- The Therapeutics category has been split into commercial companies (T-C) and development stage companies (T-D);
- The Devices & Diagnostics category has been split into 2 categories (DEV and DIAG);
- The Others category has been renamed Miscellaneous (MISC); and
- The category of U.S. OTC Listing Only (OTC) has been added since trading in this group is generally different from TSX and TSX-V listed companies.
The following table compares the number of companies in the various categories for 2013 and 2014.
For the 99 companies starting 2014 with share prices of $0.10 or higher, advancers outnumbered decliners by 68 to 31. There were 25 companies with share price increases of 40% or more, whereas only 2 companies had share price declines of 40% or more. This type of share price performance triggers the question – has there been a fundamental strengthening of the sector’s performance and outlook or is there substantial, and perhaps unsustainable, momentum in this performance?
In this blog, I am going to comment on the Q1 performance of the group of companies with share prices of $1.00 or more to start 2014. While the number of companies in this group is the same as in 2013, six companies exited as a result of acquisition or privatization and several companies moved up from the lower share price category.
- Advancers outnumbered decliners by 29 to 10
- Average and median share price increases were 19% and 11%, respectively
- Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. (184%) – signed a deal with Monsanto for agricultural applications of its delivery technology, started a Phase 1 trial of TKM-Ebola, completed a financing for gross proceeds of US$60.6 M
- Concordia Healthcare (106%) – signed an SPA with the U.S. FDA for a Phase 3 trial, completed a bought deal financing for $67.6 M
- Neovasc Inc. (63%) – initial human implants of its TIARA mitral valve were successful, completed a bought deal financing of $25.2 M
- Transition Therapeutics Inc. (46%) – re-acquired rights to ELND005 through acquisition of an Irish-domiciled company
- Novadaq Technologies Inc. (42%) – reported 2013 SPY technology revenues of US$31.6 M, up 64% from 2012
- Nordion (41%) – reported Q4 and 2013 full year results, announced an agreement to be acquired by Sterigenics
- OncoGenex (41%) – expectation of overall survival data from its Phase 3 SYNERGY trial of custirsen in treating prostate cancer [a Canadian technology in a U.S.-based and NASDAQ listed company]
- No company had a share price decline of more than 40%
[The author and his immediate family members may have long or short positions in the shares of some companies mentioned in or assessed during the preparation of this blog. Past share price performance may not be an indicator of future share price performance. This blog does not consider the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. Investors should obtain professional advice based on their own individual circumstances before making an investment decision.]
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