Dear Advisor,
Let’s be honest.
One thought occupies our waking hours – life returning to normal.
Saturday’s headline breathed life into the spirits of Americans across the nation.
The FDA granted an EUA (emergency use authorization) to Johnson and Johnson for the use and distribution of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Although we expected the news, something fascinating popped up in our Trackstar data.
The top searches in the TrackStar surge category were dominated by pharmaceutical hopefuls.
Market euphoria cooled last week at the prospect of rising rates. But, it wasn’t uniform.
Tech sector and its high valuations bore the brunt of the selling as it fell 4.9% for the week.
Short squeeze names of the Reddit Rebellion like AMC Entertainment (AMC) and Gamestop (GME) topped the searches. Yet, they couldn’t muster anywhere close to the strength they saw weeks ago
Even electric vehicles names like Tesla (TSLA), Workhorse (WKHS), and Nio (NIO) struggled despite high search traffic among advisors and retail readers.
However, it was the biopharma theme on the surge side that captivated stood out.
Johnson and Johnson news was already known – so to speak.
While the efficacy of their Covid vaccine delivers underwhelming 66% compared to the Moderna and Pfizer vax- 94% and 95%, respectively- it only requires a single-shot dose. That’s not to mention it can be transported at normal temperatures instead of ones cold enough to freeze a polar bear.
But the spike in search traffic in other pharmaceutical names seemed interesting.
So, we checked to see why these stocks garnered attention.
Right now, retail speculation remains a key piece to the puzzle as the low floats attract the chat room-speculation crowd.
Let’s take a look at a few top searches to sift through the contenders vs hopefuls.
TrackStarIQ Data
Here are some highlights from Retail searches this week –
| Rank | TOP STOCKS – BY Retail (Total Traffic) This Past Week | Ticker | TOP STOCKS- BY RETAIL (Surge Traffic) This Past Week | Ticker | TOP ETFs By RETAIL (Total Traffic) This Past Week | Ticker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc | AMC | Tactical Services, Inc. | TTSI | SPDR S&P 500 ETF | SPY |
| 2 | Churchill Capital Corp IV Cl A | CCIV | Pandion Therapeutics Inc | PAND | Invesco QQQ | QQQ |
| 3 | Gamestop Corp | GME | Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. | LIXT | ARK Innovation ETF | ARKK |
| 4 | Tesla Inc | TSLA | Sensus Healthcare Inc | SRTS | ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures | UVXY |
| 5 | Apple Inc | AAPL | Xtant Medical Holdings Inc | XTNT | iShares Silver Trust | SLV |
| 6 | Palantir Technologies Inc Cl A | PLTR | Malacca Straits Acquisition Company Ltd Cl A | MLAC | ProShares UltraPro QQQ | TQQQ |
| 7 | Storage Computer Corp | SOSO | Stereotaxis Inc | STXS | ARK Fintech Innovation ETF | ARKF |
| 8 | Sos Ltd | SOS | Ameriserv Financial | ASRV | ARK Genomic Revolution ETF | ARKG |
| 9 | Workhorse Grp | WKHS | Quest Patent Research Corporation | QPRC | VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF | SMH |
| 10 | Nio Inc | NIO | Rubius Therapeutics Inc | RUBY | Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares | SOXL |
| 11 | Ocugen Inc | OCGN | Aslan Pharmaceuticals Ltd ADR | ASLN | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | TLT |
| 12 | Sundial Growers Inc | SNDL | The Graystone Company, Inc. | GYST | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | XLK |
| 13 | Eversource Energy | ES | U.S. Physical Therapy | USPH | Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund | XLE |
| 14 | Castor Maritime Inc | CTRM | Wisdom Homes of America, Inc. | WOFA | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | IWM |
| 15 | Square | SQ | Dynatronics Cp | DYNT | Invesco Solar ETF | TAN |
| 16 | Zomedica Pharmaceuticals Corp | ZOM | Intrusion Inc | INTZ | ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ | SQQQ |
| 17 | Amazon.com Inc | AMZN | Armstrong Flooring Inc | AFI | SPDR Gold Trust | GLD |
| 18 | Nvidia Corp | NVDA | Silversun Technologies Inc Cl A | SSNT | iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | VXX |
| 19 | Visa Inc | V | VPR Brands, LP | VPRB | ARK Web x.0 ETF | ARKW |
| 20 | AT&T | T | Chromadex Corp CS | CDXC | iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | ICLN |
Pandion Therapeutics is #2 on the Surge Traffic list and serves as the poster child for speculative dreams.
PAND develops novel therapeutics to address the unmet needs of patients living with autoimmune diseases.
On Thursday, Merck (MRK) announced it would buy the biotech firm for $60 a share, a tasty 140% premium. SVB Leerink Analyst Geoffrey Porges said in a note to clients, “This transaction also validates the notion that investors in recently public and early stage biopharma companies can still be tempted by the possibility by an early huge return from a large transaction at a high premium”.
This is music to the speculator’s ears and drives a search for the ‘next PAND’.
Lixite Biotechnology (LIXT) is #3 on Surge Traffic.
The stock ripped above the $4 level, hitting $7.20 before dropping a portion of its gains.
What made this stock rally 50% you ask?
Nothing… at least on the news front. LIXT did find itself at the center of social media discussions as the retail crowd is abuzz about a March 9 presentation at an H.C. Wainwright Global Life Sciences Conference.
This name highlights the type of buzz we are seeing from the retail crowd over the past few weeks.
Sensus Healthcare (SRTS) came in #4 for Surge Traffic and presents a story we can sink our teeth into- a surprise earnings profit.
SRTS distributes superficial radiation therapy devices to healthcare providers.
On Thursday, the company delivered their quarterly results.
They posted a profit of 6 cents a share, 17 cents better than the dual analyst estimate of a loss of $11 cents per share. Revenues fell 40% from the prior year to $5.1 million but this was well above the expected $2.5 million in sales.
COVID-19 hurt medical device makers, Sensus Healthcare included. But as the economy reopens, investors gravitate towards these elective procedure medical stocks as growth plays.
Plus, Sensus sees an opportunity to use their superficial radiation therapy (SRT) systems to treat pneumonia in the lungs of Covid-19 patients. Pretty ingenious for a device designed to treat skin cancer.
SRTS is seeing a nice break above $4.40 resistance in reaction to the report.
But before I let you go, let me throw one other stock to keep on your radar.
Xtant Medical (XTNT) came in at #5 on the Surge list.
This is a medical technology company focused on surgical solutions for the treatment of spinal disorders.
The company put out a release saying it was unaware of any developments that would have led to shares tripling in value on Friday.
The company did announce the closing of a $20 million private placement on Thursday and this was enough to put it on the retail daytraders’ radar.
XTNT carries a 4.19 million float and can be pushed around by this fast money. This is a target for the speculative wave crashing across penny stocks.