December 27, 2024 4:58pm

News:  Precigen (PGEN -$0.0124 or -1.68% to $0.726), has entered into a securities purchase agreement for the sale of its 8% Series A Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock (Preferred Stock) in a private placement. PGEN anticipates gross proceeds of $79 M before deducting offering expenses. Investors will have rights to exercise warrants to purchase 52,666,669 shares of PGEN's common stock at an exercise price of $0.75 per share (Warrants). The offering is expected to close on or before 12/30/24, subject to customary closing conditions. The private placement was led by affiliates of Patient Capital Management, with participation from Bill Miller, Randal J. Kirk, executive chairman of the board of directors of Precigen, and certain other investors. <still under a Nasdaq listing $1.00) minimum>

I say today what others won't, so you can do what others can't by sticking to the FACTS!

Never leave an investor uninformed!  

The week in review

On point, short on words, long on facts and being judicious!

Never above you, never below you, always beside you!

 

Friday: The Dow closed DOWN -333.59 points or -0.77%, the S&P closed DOWN -66.75 points or -1.11% while the Nasdaq closed DOWN -298.33 points or -1.49%

  • Indexes declined on Friday, with the Dow erasing earlier gains in the holiday-shortened week
  • With Friday’s sell-off, the Dow turned negative on the week, while the Nasdaq sat near flat and the S&P 500 is up just 0.2% this week.

Henry’omics: We need to more than consider the economic environment - rising rates and inflation to comprehend the micro re “our” universe of cell and gene therapy companies

  • No one seems to care to publish

Friday’s advance/decline line at the open was negative with 17 incliners, 15 declined and 3 flats; ending with a barely negative close at the close of 1 incliner, 31 decliners and 3 flats

  • Sentiment was wiped from our shoes as we walked-in

Metrics:  Friday, the IBB was down -1.15%, the XBI was down -1.30% while the VIX was up +1.22 points or +8.30% at 15.95

 

Q4/24 – 1 holiday 5 positive and 14 negative closes

  • November – 1 holiday, 10 negative and 10 positive closes              
  • October: 8 positive and 15 negative sessions

 

Thursday’s Closing Down (10 of 31): Wednesday was holiday and Tuesday was not recorded

  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY -$4.53 after Thursday’s -$0.75 after Monday’s -$3.18),
  • Blueprint Medicine (BPMC -$2.22 after Thursday’s+$1.16 after Monday’s +$0.19),
  • Beam Therapeutics (BEAM -$2.11 after Thursday’s -$0.11 after Monday’s -$0.31),
  • CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP -$1.05),
  • Mesoblast (MESO -$0.76 after Thursday’s +$1.27 after Monday’s +$2.60),
  • Lenz Therapeutics (LENZ -$0.69 after Thursday’s +$0.51 after Monday’s -$1.33),
  • Regenxbio (RGNX -$0.46 after Thursday’s +$0.47 after Monday’s -$0.24),
  • BioLife Solutions (BLFS -$0.44),
  • Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS -$0.42 after Thursday’s -$0.20 after Monday’s +$0.45),
  • Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals (RARE -$0.40),

Flat (3)

  • bluebird bio (BLUE)
  • Harvard Apparatus RT (OTCQB: HRGN)
  • Homology Medicine (FIXX)

Friday’s Closing Up (1 of 1): Wednesday was holiday and Tuesday was not recorded

  • MiMedx (MDXG +$0.03),

 

Thursday: The Dow closed UP +28.77 points or +0.07%, the S&P closed DOWN -2.45 points or -0.04% while the Nasdaq closed DOWN -10.77 points or -0.05%

  • Trading was thin largely muted after a holiday

Henry’omics: We need to more than consider the economic environment - rising rates and inflation to comprehend the micro re “our” universe of cell and gene therapy companies

  • Jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 21 totaled 219,000, compared to the 225,000-consensus forecast. Continuing claims, or recurring applications for unemployment benefits, rose to 1.91 M, reaching the highest level since Nov. 13, 2021.

Thursday’s advance/decline line at the open was negative with 7 incliners, 25 declined and 3 flats; ending with a positive close at the close of 27 incliner, 7 decliners and 1 flat

  • From much less enthusiasm to a positive close

Metrics:  Thursday, the IBB was up +0.72%, the XBI was up +0.67% while the VIX was up +0.46 points or +3.22% at 14.73

 

Wednesday (12/25) was a holiday and Tuesday (12/24) was not reported

 

Monday: The Dow closed UP +66.69 points or +0.16%, the S&P closed UP +43.22 points or +0.73% while the Nasdaq closed UP +192.29 points or +0.98%

  • Trading was thin largely muted as weak economic data seemed to sour the sentiment of the session

Henry’omics: We need to more than consider the economic environment - rising rates and inflation to comprehend the micro re “our” universe of cell and gene therapy companies

  • The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for December fell to 104.7, its lowest level since September and below a Dow Jones estimate of 113.0.
  • Orders for durable goods — generally big-ticket items such as aircraft, appliances and computers  fell 1.1% in November, the largest month-over-month drop since June.

Monday’s advance/decline line at the open was neutral with 16 incliners, 16 declined and 3 flats; ending with a negative close at the close of 10 incliners, 22 decliners and 3 flats

The NYSE closes early Tuesday for Christmas Eve at 1 p.m. ET, and the market is shut on Christmas Day.

Metrics:  Monday, the IBB was up +0.88%, the XBI was up +0.61% while the VIX was down -1.46 points or -7.97% at 16.90

 

The BOTTOM LINE: I hope all had a great Christmas and … the New Year is due and a whole new group of expectations.

The small-cap Russell 2000 benchmark fell another 1.9% Friday, bringing its December losses to more than 8%. The benchmark is now on track for its worst month since September 2022.

 

A quote to ponder, “Markets have largely digested the year's remaining key economic data points, and investors are now turning their attention to two big themes for the coming year: the Fed's path for interest rates and the implications of Trump's ascent back to the White House.”

 

The cell and gene therapy sector stocks is about to end the 4th week of December, the final month of 2024 with …

  • Monday of the last week of December closed negative … Tuesday closed positive, Wednesday was a holiday while Thursday and Friday closed negative
  • Last Monday’s positive close with a Tuesday barely positive close followed by a Wednesday’s deeply negative with yet another Thursday negative close … followed by a positive close
  • The previous week, ended with 5 negative closes
  • December’s 1st week ‘s Monday positive close was followed by negative closes on Thursday and Wednesday, Tuesday’s and then Friday’s positive close

 

As I have written “Many sector companies are engaged in cost realignment programs, which won’t be realized consequences over the next few Qs where the operating expense levels; spending on SG&A (selling, informational, and administrative) and R&D (research and development) facilitate the need to extend runways and enable expectation of clinical innovations.”

  • They had better, capital markets have been floundering on follow-on offerings.

 

Why do I keep repeating, so investors can make the connection …

The top three (3) performing in the session:    

  • Friday: MiMedx (MDXG)
  • Thursday: Mesoblast (MESO), Blueprint Medicine (BPMC) and bluebird bio (BLUE)
  • Wednesday: holiday
  • Tuesday: not recorded
  • Monday: Mesoblast (MESO), AxoGen (AXGN) and Vericel (VCEL)

The worst three (3) in the session: 

  • Friday: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Blueprint Medicine (BPMC) and Beam Therapeutics (BEAM)
  • Thursday: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Vericel (VCEL) and Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals (RARE)
  • Wednesday: holiday
  • Tuesday: not recorded
  • Monday: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Lenz Therapeutics (LENZ) and bluebird bio (BLUE)

Welcome to my world of defining the “grey’ in our universe!

  • Right up front, “I also hate to be so negative or contrarian but, this is a NO spin zone and facts are its product; I can always be WRONG but … I am mostly EARLY!”

 

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. Regulation Analyst Certification (Reg AC): The research analyst primarily responsible for the content of this report certifies the following under Reg AC: I hereby certify that all views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject company or companies and it’s or their securities.

I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.