About Small Caps Article of the Week
by Allen Caron, About Small Cap
Though the small cap market as a whole has been down lately, one sector appears to be rallying and surpassing the others. That’s right – health care companies, a mainstay of small cap indices, is on the rise. Barron’s even called it “the place to be.”
If there’s one sector that’s looking bright, health care is a pretty safe bet. After all, an aging population combined with longer lifespans on average means that more people will be taking advantage of the health care system for quite some time. Over the next 10 years, world demographics will shift such that half of all humans will be over the age of 50.
In the past, we’ve covered health care small cap stocks in groups, but we thought we’d take a different approach and gather a potpourri of health care stocks from a variety of different sectors. While we’ve covered each of these companies before, we’ve never addressed them at the same time. Here’s a short list of small cap stocks in health care that we’ve covered previously:
Amityville, NY-based Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. develops and manufactures generic and over-the-counter medications, including Fluticasone nasal spray. The company was acquired in April 2014 by Lake Forest, IL-based Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX). Akorn’s first-quarter results show 23% growth over first quarter 2013 at $90.6 million. In May, Akorn announced the acquisition of VPI Holdings Corp., the parent company of VersaPharm Incorporated. AKRX closed June 9 at $28.54, up $0.19, with a market cap of $2.91 billion. Its 52 week trading range is $12.91 – $29.62.
BioInvent International (OTCMKTS:BOVNF), based in Lund, Sweden, is a research-based pharmaceutical company developing antibody drugs for diseases like multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The company’s current pipeline includes three different drug candidates for treating cancer. We last covered BioInvent in March of this year. BOVNF last traded on October 16 at a price of $0.41, with a market cap of $34.86 million. Its 52 week trading range is $0.35 – $0.49.
Framingham, MA-based HeartWare International Inc.* (NASDAQ:HTWR) develops and manufactures ventricular assist devices for patients suffering from advanced heart failure. Its primary product is the HeartWare® Ventricular Assist System, which includes the HVAD® pump. On June 3rd, the company received a warning letter from the FDA resulting from an inspection of the company’s facilities in Florida. However, the letter does not restrict use of HeartWare’s devices. When we last covered HeartWare, they closed on January 20th at $101.26 with a market cap of $1.67 billion. HTWR closed June 9 at $91.77, up $1.68, with a market cap of $1.53 billion. Its 52 week trading range is $69.31 – $105.84.
BioLife Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS), based in Bothell, WA, develops and manufactures hypothermic storage and cryogenic preservation solutions for both cells and tissues. The company’s biopreservation media are protein- and serum-free. Recently, BioLife Solutions announced its first-quarter results, showing 47 percent growth over the first quarter of the year. When we last covered the company, closed December 27th at $0.595 with a market cap of $41.93 million. BLFS closed June 9 at $2.32, down $0.17, with a market cap of $27.14 million. Its 52 week trading range is $1.85 – $23.94.
While we often cover specific industries within the health care sector, health care investors are often concerned with the performance of the market as a whole in addition to specific areas. Investors looking for a market that may continue to show growth for quite some time might wish to investigate the health care industry. After all, it’s looking quite healthy in 2014.
