Three Healthcare Stocks With Technological Prowess: OPTI, RENE and SUMM

Rapid expansion in Healthcare capabilities is on account of significant advancement in available technologies. Integrating these technologies into every division of healthcare could potentially benefit patients and medical professionals alike.

Evolving healthcare technologies are proving to be a powerful tool in the pursuit of complete efficiency. Technological advancement in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices have all contributed significantly to improve the health conditions of people around the world. Technological innovation in the field of healthcare plays a very important role in sustaining healthcare.

Medical researchers are constantly researching and testing new methods to help diagnose prevent and heal diseases as well as develop new drugs and medicines that can allay symptoms or treat hitherto unknown diseases.

Through the use of technology in medical research, research scholars have been able to examine viruses on a cellular level and create antibodies against them.

Let’s have a look on below mentioned three healthcare companies listed and traded on the London Stock Exchange:

OptiBiotix Health Plc (LON:OPTI)

Alternative Investment Market-listed OptiBiotix Health Plc is a biotechnology company engaged in the development of a range of products to modify the human microbiome. Also, its operational interest lies in research and development into microbiome modulators. The group was founded in March 2012 with the aim to develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations which modulate the human microbiome and thus could be utilised as food ingredients, supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic disease. Examples of such include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution, and diabetes. The group has also developed a portfolio of intellectual property comprising patents, trademarks and novel microbial strains.

In the exchange filing made by the group as on November 09, 2019, it notified that its fully owned subsidiary ProBiotix Health Ltd. had completed an agreement with CTC Far East Philippines, Inc for the distribution of proprietary formulation CholBiome®x3 in the Philippines.

The group has also entered into three new exclusive distribution agreements with Extensor, Epic Ingredients and Supplemed Solution Sdn Bhd, which seek to extend the global reach of its SlimBiome® and GoFigure® products.

Extensor is the OptiBiotix Health’s partner in Poland for the circulation of its GoFigure® product range; further, the group has signed an agreement with Extensor for the distribution of e SlimBiome® in Poland for a period of 12 months with continued exclusivity subject to performance review.

It has also secured an agreement with Epic Ingredients for the distribution of SlimBiome® in Singapore and Malaysia. And also, signed an agreement with Supplemed Solution Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Epic Ingredients to distribute its own label GoFigure® consumer weight management products in Malaysia and Singapore

Stock Performance

Shares of OPTI delivered a negative price return of 41% on a YoY basis, slumped 44% on a YTD basis, tumbled around 20% in the past one-month time, however, delivered approximately 13% in the past three months, respectively. The above stock performance reflects a downtrend in the stock.

At the time of writing (as on December 09, 2018, at 12:55 PM GMT), shares of OPTI traded 2.5 points or 4.9% lower against the previous closing level at GBX 48.50. Also, at the current trading level, its shares traded well below its short-term and long-term support levels of 5-day, 10-day, 20-day, 50-day and 200-day simple moving average prices.

In the past six-month, shares of OPTI traded 42 times higher, 67 times lower and remained 20 times unchanged against their respective previous closing level, which reflects Ups underperformed Downs, with Up/Down ratio at 42/67.

The outstanding market capitalisation of the group stood at £43.57 million with 85.44 million shares are in issue, which ranks it among the small-cap companies listed and traded on the London Stock Exchange.

ReNeuron Group Plc (LON:RENE)

Alternative Investment Market – traded ReNeuron Group Plc is a biotechnology company with an operational interest lies in researching and developing cell-based therapies. Its products are allogeneic. The group's CTX stem cell therapy is used for the nursing of patients left differently abled by the effects of a stroke, and human retinal progenitor stem cell candidate is used for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa.

Recently (as on December 06, 2019), the group reported its interim results for the six months ended as on September 30, 2019. During the period under consideration, the group reported that it had reduced loss for the period to £3.90m against the loss of £5.36m reported in the year-over period and cash consumption during the period reduced to £5.15m against £7.54m it reported in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Also, it received an upfront payment of £5.4m (net of withholding tax) pertaining to a license agreement with Focus Pharma.

Its cash and cash equivalent and bank deposits at the end of the H1FY20 stood at £21.27m against £26.39m reported at the end of the H1FY19.

Stock Performance

Shares of RENE have delivered a massive return of approximately 164% on a YoY basis, up by around 188% on a YTD basis, delivering approximately 11% in a month-over period and surged around 4% in the past five trading sessions. However, it declined by approximately 30% in the past three months.

However, despite a decent performance of its shares in the last five trading sessions, the 5-days average daily volume traded on the London Stock Exchange was 54% below the 30-day average daily volume traded in the stock. Also, the 30-day average daily traded volume in the stock is significantly below the 90-day average daily traded volume in the stock.

At the time of writing (as on December 09, 2018, at 12:55 PM GMT), shares of RENE traded 3.5 points or 2.4% lower against the previous closing level at GBX 137.50. In the past 52-weeks, its shares have registered a high of GBX 335.0 and a low of GBX 45.0, respectively.

Summit Therapeutics Plc (LON:SUMM)

Alternative Investment Market-traded Summit Therapeutics Plc is the UK-headquartered pharmaceuticals company engaged in drug development. Its operational interest lies in the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines. The outstanding market capitalisation of the company stood at £32.10m, which ranks it among the small-cap companies listed and traded on the AIM segment of the London Stock Exchange.

Recently (as on December 06, 2019), the group announced to proposed fundraising of approximately $50m through subscription and placing of new ordinary shares and warrants to existing investors; however, the proposed placement is subject to shareholder approval. The subscription and placement will take place at a price of GBX 22.1 per new ordinary share.

As a condition of fundraising, the group will delist its shares from the AIM segment of the London Stock Exchange; however, the group's ADSs will remain listed on Nasdaq where one ADS represents five ordinary shares of the company.

Stock Performance

Shares of the SUM delivered around 2.5% in the year-over period, up 2.5% on a YTD basis, however, plummeted approximately 16% in the past one month and 9% in the past five trading sessions, respectively.

At the time of writing (as on December 09, 2018, at 12:55 PM GMT), shares of SUMM traded 1.0 points or 5.0% higher at GBX 21.0. At the current trading level, its shares traded well below its short-term and long-term support levels of 5-day, 10-day, 20-day, 50-day and 200-day simple moving average prices. Also, the 5-day average volume traded in the stock was approximately 84% higher against the 30-day daily average volume traded on the London Stock Exchange.

In a year-over period, shares of SUMM registered a 52-week high of GBX 34.67 and a 52-week low of GBX 16.30, and at the current trading level, its shares traded 40% off from its 52-week peak levels.