The medtech industry is poised for a big week with the U.S. rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and stocks remain high from previous peaks.
MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — finished last week at 100.03 (Dec. 11), marking a minor 0.7% uptick from the 100.75 points registered at the end of the week prior (Dec. 4).
A slight downturn could be expected after the index hit a new high on Dec. 4, beating the mark of 100.65 set on Nov. 9 and setting a new all-time high since the index started being recorded on Jan. 1, 2001.
Medtech stocks had been on the rise over the past several weeks, following the election of Joe Biden as president of the U.S., positive news regarding the effectiveness of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, and shortly after that, the report of Moderna’s 94.5% effective vaccine candidate further contributed to a leap.
On Friday, the FDA authorized the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX), providing a much-hoped-for tool to roll back the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the small dip, the index remains close to eight points ahead of the pre-pandemic high of 92.32, which the market reached on Feb. 19. To date, medtech stocks have increased by 8.4%.
Medtech’s stock performance somewhat mirrored the overall markets, with the S&P 500 Index seeing a -1% dip, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was even closer to medtech, dipping by -0.6%.
Medtech’s lowest point during the COVID-19 pandemic remains at 62.13 on March 23. Since then, the industry’s stocks have experienced 61% growth in total, as of the end of last week.
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:
- FDA authorizes Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine
- The top 5 MassDevice stories of the week
- Court confirms $112M Medtronic loss in royalties spat
- PPE makers want revamp of pandemic planning and supply distribution
- Edwards projects TAVR, overall growth in 2021
- Abbott boosts quarterly dividend by 25%
- Biden makes HHS, CDC picks