December 20, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEW YORK – It’s fair to say that 2016 has been unkind to biotech stocks. But, an analyst at The Street has selected five stocks that are bucking the trend and set for “bullish activity.”
Writing in The Street, Jonas Elmerraji took a technical analysis of these stocks to show “solid upside potential right now.”
1. Quintiles Holdings
Watch the price of this stock. When Quintiles hits $81 per share, Elmerraji said that is a “new buy signal” for the stock. Shares of Quintiles are currently trading at $76.41 this morning. Earlier this year Quintiles merged with IMS Holdings to form Quintiles IMS Holdings, Inc. The combined companies offer multiple services, including assistance with clinical trials and big data needs. Last year, Quintiles merged with Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, a medical test maker, to form the world’s second-largest global clinical trials laboratory services business.
2. ICU Medical
Like Quintiles, there’s a threshold number for investors to watch. If shares of ICU Medical hits $155, that’s the time to buy. He said sellers will look to take short term gains and buyers will be able to acquire a strong stock. Shares of ICU Medical are currently trading at $146.25.
Shares of California-based Mettler-Toledo , the maker of laboratory equipment, are trading at $424.18 this morning. Elmerraji said Mettler-Toledo provides buyers with a “low-risk, high-reward” opportunity.
Shares of Irvine, Calif.-based Edwards Lifesciences , a medical devices company, have dropped since October, when it was trading at $117.68. Shares of Edwards are currently trading at $90.60. While the stock has lost about 22 percent since then, Elmerraji said investors looking at Edwards Lifesciences are seeing the bottom, which means the stock should begin to climb again. Before that dramatic drop in stock price, Edwards had seen sales up more than 20 percent for the year. Earlier this year, the company saw approval of its Sapien 3 transcatheter heart valve, which should be a decent revenue driver.
5. Novartis
Elmerraji believes the steady decline in Swiss-based Novartis is similar to that of Edwards Lifesciences. In other words, investors should begin to see an uptick in Novartis share price. The stock is currently selling for $71.86 per share. He said when the stock hits $74 per share, that’s when investors should pounce and buy the stock. Novartis is undergoing an integrated development model, which includes three focused, customer-facing divisions. The divisions will be Innovative Medicines (formerly the Novartis Pharmaceuticals division), which will include the Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Oncology business units; Sandoz, the generics and biosimilar division, which includes the Retail Generics, Anti-Infectives and Biopharmaceuticals franchises; and Alcon , the eye care devices division, which includes the Surgical and Vision Care franchises. The company recently announced its experimental CAR-T therapy CLT019 sent 82 percent of patients’ blood cancer into remission. That data puts Novartis in line to hit its 2017 goal to seek regulatory approval for its pediatric leukemia drug.
