OIS Index Posts Third Straight Positive Month in April
In October, we launched the OIS Index, a composite of ophthalmic growth stocks, to track the investment performance of our sector. Our goal is to highlight ophthalmology investment performance, in absolute terms and compared with broader biotech and medical device industries, as well as the stock market as a whole.The OIS Index was launched with an initial value of 1,000 on October 1; as of the market close on April 30, the OIS Index stood at 887.65.
The OIS Index posted its third straight month in positive territory in April, gaining 1.0%. This compares with a 0.8% gain for the Russell 3000 Index, which tracks the overall US stock market, and gains of 1.4% for the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index and 4.1% for a composite of US medical device stocks. Although the OIS Index increased in value in April, the number of declining stocks outnumbered advancing stocks by 18 to 14.
Over the three-month period ending on April 30, the OIS Index (+8.1%) outperformed both the Russell 3000 Index (+4.4%) and the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (+7.0%).
OIS Index – Three Month Performance
January 31, 2016 – April 30, 2017
Drivers of OIS Index Performance
The largest contributor to OIS Index performance in April was Molecular Partners (+1.1% contribution to index performance, stock up 18.4%), which posted strong gains following the announcement of a change in the company’s shareholder base.
Other large percentage gainers in April included Opthea Limited (+0.4% contribution to index performance, stock up 14.8%), which moved higher following the announcement of positive results from the Phase I/2a clinical trial of OPT-302, a novel VEGF-C/D “Trap” therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). Alimera Sciences (+0.2% contribution to index performance, stock up 11.9%) posted gains at the end of the month following initiation of analyst research coverage.
The largest negative impact on the OIS Index in April came from Glaukos Corp. (–0.6% impact on index performance, stock down 7.3%), which began the month at an all-time high and has been one of the largest positive contributors to OIS Index performance since inception seven months ago. On a percentage basis, the largest decliner in the OIS Index for the second month in a row was TearLab Corp., which was down 26% in April and is down 64% over the past three months.