Seven biotech companies with initial valuations north of $1 billion began trading during the first nine months of 2019. Overall, these companies performed well. Their average and median returns were 13% and 14% respectively. In comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) and the Fidelity Nasdaq Composite ETF (NASDAQ: ONEQ) only returned 8.5% since the day the first biotech on our list IPO'd.
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Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: ADPT) led the pack with a 55% return from its IPO price. Its expertise in unraveling the complexity of the immune system can be used for research applications, clinical diagnostics, and drug discovery. NGM Biosciences (NASDAQ: NGM) and Alector (NASDAQ: ALEC) brought up the rear with post-IPO stock performance of -13% and -24%, respectively.