{IMAGERIGHT:http://www.massdevice.com/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/checkup/090528_index.jpg}Our Weekly Checkup takes the temperature of the 63 public medical device companies in the MassDevice Index. The index is weighted according to market capitalization, based on the number of shares outstanding for each company from its most recent quarterly report and each Friday’s closing share price.
The index for the week ended May 22 closed with a reading of 4.85, up nearly 3.7 percent compared with the prior week. That’s a reversal of last week’s dramatic 18.5 percent decline. Since we began tracking these companies in late March, the index slipped 2.16 percent, mostly due to that precipitous slide during the week ended May 15.
The Weekly Checkup also compares Monday morning’s opening share prices with their value when the markets close Friday afternoon to calculate the biggest gainers and losers.
Here are the ten firms that posted the biggest share price gains and losses during the week ended May 8:
The five biggest gainers:
- NMT Medical Inc. +67.5% (open $1.20; close $2.01)
- Viking Medical Systems Inc. +50.0% (open $0.02; close $0.03)
- NxStage Medical Inc. +43.2% (open $2.06; close $2.95)
- SeraCare Life Sciences Inc. +40.7% (open $0.86; close $1.21)
- Optos Inc. +19.0% (open $43.50; close $51.75)
And the five biggest losers:
- Brooks Automation Inc. -16.6% (open $4.82; close $4.02)
- Biopure Corp. -16.0% (open $0.25; close $0.21)
- Quick-Med Technologies Inc. -14.6% (open $0.48; close $0.41)
- Osmetech -13.3% (open $3.00; close $2.60)
- Implant Sciences Corp. -11.1% (open $0.09; close $0.08)
The checkup also takes a look at a different financial metric each week, ranking local players based their performance in that category.
This week we’re looking at total debt/equity ratios, a measure of how aggressively a company finances its growth using debt. It’s an important metric, especially during rough economic patches, because highly leveraged companies run the risk of not generating enough growth to outweigh the cost of the debt — which could lead to bankruptcy.
Here are the top 20 public medical device companies in Massachusetts, ranked in descending order according to their total debt/equity ratio as of the end of 2008:
- Orthofix International N.V.: 1.39
- Aspect Medical Systems Inc.: 1.16
- Implant Sciences Corp.: 0.93
- Interleukin Genetics Inc.: 0.89
- Millipore Corp.: 0.88
- Waters Corp.: 0.81
- Bruker Corp.: 0.64
- Boston Scientific Corp.: 0.51
- Charles River Laboratories International Inc.: 0.48
- Hologic Inc.: 0.47
- Dynamics Research Corp.: 0.47
- Inverness Medical Innovations Inc.: 0.46
- Covidien Ltd.: 0.39
- Plexus Corp.: 0.36
- PerkinElmer Inc.: 0.32
- NxStage Medical Inc.: 0.25
- UFP Technologies Inc.: 0.2
- Caliper Life Sciences Inc.: 0.19
- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.: 0.14
- Athenahealth Inc.: 0.09
Source: Mergent Inc.
Disclaimer: MassDevice.com’s rankings do not reflect an opinion of companies’ health, prospects or viability. They are intended to provide a snapshot of publicly traded medical device companies and in no way constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy.