XBI Contradicted the Market, Agios Rose by 8.3%
Mid-Cap and Small-Cap Biotech Stocks Rose, Pushed XBI Up
XBI contradicted the market
On November 25, the markets remained low and choppy. The markets didn’t move. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by one point and the S&P 500 lost a quarter of a point on November 25, 2015. However, biotech continues to outperform the market. It rose—driven by mid-cap and small-cap biotech stocks.
The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) rose by 2% for the day. It was one of the top gainers among the biotech ETFs. Nearly 80% of XBI’s holdings gave a positive return. Only 20% of the stocks ended in red. This shows the positive breadth across XBI’s holdings. XBI closed at $72.45. It was trading 6.3% higher than the 50-day moving average. It was trading 2.3% below the 100-day moving average.
The above graph shows the returns, current price, and different moving average prices of the Health Care SPDR ETF (XLV), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), and the top and bottom performers of the day.
Agios rose 8.3%
Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO) rose by 8.3%. The stock is recovering from its low of $59.13 on November 16, 2015. It closed at 68.52. Agios was trading below the 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day moving averages. The trading volumes were relatively higher at ~485,000—compared to a five-day average trading volume of ~337,000 shares per day. Agios has a book value of $9.99 per share. With its current price, the stock is trading at a PBV (price-to-book value) ratio of 6.86x compared to the ETFs industry average of 11.66x. Agios has a weight of ~0.75% in XBI’s portfolio.
The other stock that performed well were Immunogen (IMGN) and Intrexon (XON). They rose by 7.2% and 6.2%, respectively. The worst performing stock was PTC Therapeutics (PTCT). It fell by ~7% for the day.
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