March 22, 2021 5:33pm

Although a knee-jerk response as a number of Friday’s upsiders slump

News: Stirling Ultracold, a privately-held ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezer company has signed an all-stock agreement to merge into BioLife Solutions (BLFS -$0.19 post earnings and an aftermarket +$4.93 or +12.78% to $43.50)

Pre-open indication results: 2 HITs and 4 MISS

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The Dow closed UP +103.23 points (+0.32%); the S&P closed UP +27.49 points (+0.70%) while the Nasdaq closed UP +162.31 points (+1.23%)

 

Henry’omics:

Indexes jumped on Monday led by technology shares as investors flocked back into growth names amid declining bond yields as the cell and gene therapy sector got “thumped” down.

  • The 10-year Treasury yield fell 5 basis points to around 1.68%, after touching a 14-month high last week (1 basis point equals 0.01%). The move higher in rates in recent weeks has raised concerns about valuations on growth and tech stocks. <CNBC>

 

News (BioLife Solutions continued): Prior to this merger, Stirling Ultracold worked closely with many of the BioLife business lines including Custom Biogenics Systems and SciSafe Biorepositories. As such, Stirling Ultracold does not anticipate any significant changes with day-to-day operations but expects Stirling shareholders and their 150+ member team to immediately benefit from the expanded breadth and scale of technologies BLFS has to offer.

  • Stirling Ultracold revolutionized the ULT freezer market in 2010 by developing and releasing the first Energy Star™ certified ULT freezer, in the world. The company possesses over 80 patents on various applications of the Stirling technology and has been at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccination efforts by providing the only line of ULT freezer systems capable of storing any mRNA vaccine requiring -20°C to -86°C thermal protection.

 

RegMed Investors’ (RMi) pre-open: “optimism grows but, anchors have been dropped as end of quarter approaches and there are still a few Q4 and FY20 earnings’ releases due” … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/11825    

 

Pre-open indication results:  2 HITs < CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP +$3.39), Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC -$0.17)> and 4 MISS < Biostage (BSTG +$0.05 with 2001 shares “the pump and promote is back”), Solid Biosciences (SLDB -$0.16), Pluristem (PSTI -$0.15), bluebird bio (BLUE -$0.51), >

 

RegMed/Stem/Cell and Gene therapy’s 35 covered equities’ Advance/Decline (A/D) lines: progressions and regressions …

  • Monday opened positive at 24/9, 1 flat and 1 acquired, stayed positive at the mid-day to 19/15 and 1 acquired, closing negative at 16/18 and 1 acquired;

 

There are clear winners and losers

Jumping with share pricing momentum:

  • Editas Medicine (EDIT), CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE), Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA), Global Blood therapeutics (GBT) to name 5 of the 16 inclining of the 35 covered

Hammered in today’s market:

  • Vericel (VCEL), Ultragenyx (RARE), ReNeuron (RENE.L), Regenxbio (RGNX), AxoGen (AXGN) to name 5 of the 18 declining of the 35 covered

 

Key metrics:

  • Sector volume had LOW with 4 of the 16-upside having higher than the 3-month average volume with the volume of 4 of 18-downside having higher than the 3-month average volume;
  • Monday’s percentage (%) of the 16-upside were +0.24% (PGEN) to +7.73% (EDIT) while the 18-downside ranges from -0.01% (ALNY) to -3.27% (CLBS);

 

Monday’s (10 of 16) incline

  • Editas Medicine (EDIT +$3.48 after Friday’s +$1.75);
  • CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP +$3.39 after Friday’s +$6.04);
  • Sage Therapeutics (SAGE +$2.82 after Friday’s +$1.62);
  • Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA +$2.68 after Friday’s +$3.62);
  • Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT +$1.73);
  • Fate Therapeutics (FATE +$1.63 after Friday’s +4.32);
  • Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS +$1.43);
  • uniQure NV (QURE +$1.23);
  • Chinook Therapeutics (KDNY +$0.78);
  • MiMedx (MDXG +$0.42);

Monday’s (10 of 18) decliners:

  • Vericel (VCEL-$1.82 after Friday’s +$6.41);
  • Ultragenyx (RARE -$1.16 after Friday’s +$4.74);
  • ReNeuron (RENE.L -$1.00 after Friday’s +$15.00);
  • Regenxbio (RGNX -$0.77);
  • AxoGen (AXGN -$0.63);
  • bluebird bio (BLUE -$0.51 after Friday’s +$1.29);
  • BioLife Solutions (-$0.19);
  • Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC -$0.17 after Friday’s +$0.29)
  • Solid Biosciences (SLDB -$0.16 after Friday’s -$0.23
  • Pluristem (PSTI -$0.15 after Friday’s +$0.10);

Closing: 1 - Stemline Therapeutics (STML – acquired)

 

Sentiment and COVID-19 infections:

  • U.S. trial data released Monday showed the Covid vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is 79% effective in preventing symptomatic illness and 100% effective against severe disease and hospitalization.

Infection cases <Million>: never to forget …

  • Monday 29.82 M cases,
  • Monday’s death rate totaled 542,379 <Johns Hopkins University>

 

Stats:

The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB) and the SPDR S&P ETF (XBI) indicators:

  • Monday, the IBB closed up +1.24% and XBI closed up +1.44%

The CBOE Volatility Index (VVIX: INDEX) tracked:

  • Monday was down -2.07 points or -9.88% at 18.88

Upside volume: 

  • Monday: 4 out of the 16-upside had higher than the 3-month average volume;

Downside volume:

  • Monday: 4 out of the 18-downside had higher than the 3-month average volume;

Percentage (%) movement/range statistics: % and pricing drop

  • Monday’s percentage (%) of the 16-upside were +0.24% (PGEN) to +7.73% (EDIT) while the 18-downside ranges from -0.01% (ALNY) to -3.27% (CLBS);

 

March, the 3rd month of Q1/21:

Monday (3/22) closed negative with 16 advancers, 18 decliners and 1 acquired

Friday closed positive with 32 advancers, 2 decliners and 1 acquired

 

The BOTTOM LINE: The sector slipped as the session evolve and exuberance faded, even as inoculations rise.

While interest rates level off, investors are rotating to cash flow driven companies as risk parameters grow in the cell and gene therapy sector

This roller-coaster ride cost us money but, it still shows - again, sustainability is the real issue in “this” market!

NOT for me - I am STILL sending up a red flag on stock pricing until earnings’’ season completes its run as volatility rules!

As to earnings’ season: “Again, “forewarned … earnings LPS (loss-per-share) season is upon us – my advice has been … trim and skim … if one can!”

 

Opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change, and not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice.

Whether information or intelligence is good, bad or somewhere in between; I put into context what is relevant and useful for investors.  All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.

Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors does not hold or have positions in securities referred to in this publication.