Europe Approved Biogen’s Elocta, Topped XBI’s Large-Cap Stocks
Mid-Cap and Small-Cap Biotech Stocks Rose, Pushed XBI Up
XBI large-cap stocks remain muted
The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF’s (XBI) large-cap stocks remained low. They gave returns of 0.3% on November 25, 2015. XBI’s large-cap stocks underperformed XBI but outperformed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). Out of the 13 large-cap stocks that XBI holds, six stocks ended in red and seven stocks gave positive returns. The large-cap stocks account for ~13% of XBI’s portfolio. XBI’s large-cap stocks include stocks like Incyte (INCY), Biomarin Pharmaceuticals (BMRN), and Alkermes (ALKS). They had returns of 3.3%, -1.8%, and -0.25% respectively.
The above graph shows the performance of XBI’s large-cap stocks in relation to XBI and SPY. Since the beginning of November 2015, XBI’s large-cap stocks underperformed XBI and SPY. XBI’s large-cap stocks returned -0.2%, XBI returned 8.8%, and SPY returned 0.7%.
Europe approved Biogen’s Elocta
Biogen (BIIB) rose 1% on November 25, 2015. According to the press release, Biogen and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (SOBI) announced that “the European Commission (EC) has approved ELOCTA® (rFVIIIFc) for the treatment of haemophilia A in all 28 European Union member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. ELOCTA, a recombinant factor VIII Fc fusion protein with an extended half-life, will be the first haemophilia A treatment in the EU to offer prolonged protection against bleeding episodes with prophylactic injections every three to five days.”
Biogen closed at $292.30. It was trading 5.7% below the 100-day moving average price of $309.85. However, the stock passed the 20-day moving average price of $292.19. Biogen’s trailing 12-month PE (price-to-earnings) ratio stood at 19.09x. Biogen’s book value is $47.43 per share. With its current price, the stock is trading at a PBV (price-to-book value) ratio of 6.16x compared to the funds industry average of 13.16x. Biogen has a weight of 1% in XBI’s portfolio.
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