Idenix’s waxing and waning hepatitis-C fortunes
Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDIX) hasn’t lost as much as some of these stocks year-to-date, but with shares down 7% in 2013, it’s caused investors to fret.
The company’s had an up-and-down start to the year. On one hand, shares surged in January after the company announced a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)‘s Janssen subsidiary in a move to develop hepatitis C virus combination therapies. Considering Idenix has been lagging behind in the hep-C space, this was a great move by the company.
Then the bad news hit as Idenix cut development on two other hep-C therapies in February, IDX184 and IDX19368. The FDA had placed the drugs on clinical hold, but it’s still a bitter pill for investors to swallow. If Idenix wants to get back into the thick of the hep-C market, it’ll have to hope for is partnership with Janssen to work out. Otherwise, it could be a long year for the stock and investors.
Surgical robotics blues
Finally, we get to one of the most exciting — and frustrating — stocks in the medical device world, MAKO Surgical Corp. (NASDAQ:MAKO). Investors are still waiting for this stock’s boom, but it hasn’t happened in 2013: Shares have fallen more than 12% year-to-date.
The company’s slow sales over the past year are to blame. While MAKO managed sales of 45 of its RIO robotic surgical systems in 2012 — right in the middle of company projections — that was a decline from the 48 it sold in 2011. MAKO’s been slowly pushing toward profitability, but it’s been a long road so far.
Nonetheless, MAKO’s building up the infrastructure it needs to succeed. With procedural growth still going strong and more than 150 RIO bases commercially installed around the world, this company’s on the upswing – even if it’s taking longer than Wall Street wanted.
Buying on the dip
Just because a stock’s dipping doesn’t make it a good buy, but for some stocks, buying in on the downswing can be a profitable idea. NPS looks to be on the best footing of these five, with Gattex now rolling out and the company growing for the future. While OraSure and Idenix face challenges, MAKO and Affymax offer two slow-but-steady growth companies that have the potential to turn around their sliding stocks.
The article 5 Health Care Stocks Slumping in 2013 originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Carroll.
Fool contributor Dan Carroll has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson and MAKO Surgical . The Motley Fool owns shares of Johnson & Johnson.
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