PARTIAL RECOVERY FOR BIOTECHS IN FEBRUARY
March 3rd 2008 08:40
Biotech Daily
Monday March 3, 2008
Daily news on ASX-listed biotechnology companies
Monday March 3, 2008
Daily news on ASX-listed biotechnology companies
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BIOTECH DAILY’S TOP 40 INDEX
Half of the Biotech Daily Top 40 Index (BDI-40) stocks staged a recovery or were unchanged in the month of February but the 20 falling stocks brought the index down 4.1 percent for the month, compared to the All Ordinaries’ 0.4 percent fall.
Of the 17 stocks to climb, Agenix was best for the month up 50 percent to $72 million but Antisense’s 48.1 percent rise to $40 million was a record high for last month’s top stock. Biota recovered 42.8 percent to $237 million. Bionomics and Heartware were up by more than 20 percent. Prana’s modest 10 percent climb to $92 million equaled its previous high.
Polartechnics had the deepest fall, down 38.9 percent to $33 million followed by Progen down 21.7 percent to $94 million and down 67.7 percent from $291 million a year earlier. Ventracor fell 21.1 percent to $116 million, down 51.3 percent from $238 million 12 months earlier.
Pharmaxis’s 20.7 percent fall for the month represented a $132 million tumble, but just 10.7 percent below its value a year ago.
Collectively the three Big Caps of Cochlear, CSL and Resmed fell 4.4 percent for the month of February, but a 20.5 percent improvement on the year to February 29, 2008 compared to the All Ordinaries fall of 2.4 percent for the 12 months period.
CSL recovered 1.6 percent to a record high of $20.1 billion in February, but Cochlear tumbled 23.9 percent to $2.9 billion and Resmed fell 15 percent.
The Biotech Daily Top 20 Index (BDI-20), which does not include the three Big Caps, fell 5.9 percent for the month and 22.3 percent for the year. The Second 20 climbed marginally for the month but fell 19.3 percent of the year.
Overall the BDI-40 fell 4.1 percent for the month compared to the All Ordinaries down 0.4 percent and 21.4 percent for the year compared to the All Ordinaries down 2.4 percent for the year.
Despite the falls there are a number of companies that have weathered the financial storms and several that appear to be nothing less than bargain basement opportunities. Pharmaxis is perhaps the most obvious below $3, along with Alchemia, Avexa Chemgenex, Circadian, Cytopia and Phylogica.
Biotech Daily Top 40 ($m) v ASX All Ordinaries 2007-08
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