Medtech stocks have been on the rise since positive news regarding COVID-19 vaccines broke last week, breaking a record in the process.
MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — finished last week at 98.99 (Nov. 13), marking a 1.4% uptick from the 97.62 points registered at the end of the week prior (Nov. 6).
On Monday Nov. 9, after positive news broke regarding the effectiveness of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the index set an all-time high since it started being recorded on Jan. 1, 2001, reaching the 100.65-point total before dipping slightly. The recent news of Joe Biden’s election as president of the U.S. may have pushed medtech stocks in an upward direction, too, while this morning’s report of Moderna’s 94.5% effective vaccine candidate could see that number jump further.
Last week’s peak saw the index sitting more than eight points ahead of the pre-pandemic high of 92.32, which the market reached on Feb. 19, and now it appears the index is leaving any other previous high points well behind it.
Medtech’s stock performance mirrored the overall markets, with the S&P 500 Index performing similarly to the medtech index, growing by 2.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fared even better, increasing by 4.1%.
Medtech’s lowest point during the COVID-19 pandemic remains at 62.13 on March 23. Since then, the industry’s stocks have experienced 59.3% growth in total, as of the end of last week, while the growth to the 100.65 high point is 62%.
The industry continues to plug along and businesses continue to operate through the pandemic. Here are some of the major highlights from the past week as earnings season is in full swing:
- The top 5 MassDevice stories of the week
- Stryker closes Wright Medical buy
- Joe Biden’s plan for COVID-19 and how the industry is reacting
- How major medtech companies are responding to the looming EU MDR
- COVID-19 vaccine rally sees testing companies’ stocks dip
- Sotera Health files for $1.1B IPO
- Baxter lands massive DoD contract
- 3M lands $37.5M federal mask contract