Monday, March 24, 2008

Stories of the tech gainers and losers of last 6 months

By Rodney Brown

Below, we take a look back at the news that contributed to the stock fluctuations of the region's top share-price gains and losses among tech companies, as tracked by Bentley College and Mass High Tech's "New England Tech Stock Index" as of October 2007, the 12-month NETSI high.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (IDEX) -- 84.1% gain

Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge reported on Feb. 3 that its drug IDX899 significantly reduced HIV levels in eight infected patients after a week of treatments. Results for the drug were presented that week at the 2008 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston. The drug, if approved, would be a once-a day treatment.

The company also reported good news from its program to develop a hepatitis C treatment at a conference in early January, setting the stock climbing from $2.78 a share to a peak of $5.56 on Feb. 1.

SatCon Technology Corp. (SATC) -- 83.8% gain

The news to replace SatCon Technology Corp. CEO and president David Eisenhaure, announced at the end of October 2007, began a bumpy but steady climb in shares of Boston-based SatCon. Executives reported Eisenhaure would serve in an advisory role once a new CEO is named.

The company also executed a definitive agreement at the time with RockPort Capital Partners and NGP Energy Technology Partners for a secured $10 million short-term debt financing.

SatCon also executed a nonbinding term sheet with RockPort and NGP ETP for an equity financing of $25 million of preferred stock and warrants, $10 million of which would be used to retire the new short-term debt. SatCon stock, which was trading at $1.40 on Oct. 30, was up to $1.93 at the end of February 2008.

Bruker Corp. (BRKR) -- 50.6% gain

Bruker BioSciences Corp., a Billerica-based provider of scientific research tools, announced in early December 2007 its plans to buy the companies of Switzerland's Bruker BioSpin Group for $914 million in stock and cash.

The combined company was called Bruker Corp., reporting about $900 million in 2007 revenue, and employing 3,700 people worldwide.

Company officials said its acquisition would diversify its product offerings, expand its distribution capabilities and broaden its customer base.

The move and name change lifted Bruker stock from $11.01 on Dec. 3, 2007, to $13.67 at the end of February 2008.

EnerNOC Inc. (ENOC) -- 63.8% loss

The stock of EnerNOC Inc. was trading at $43.86 -- right within its range for months -- on Jan. 7, 2008, when it announced that it had named Darren Brady as the new chief operating officer. The company's stock began a slide that then dove deep following the Feb. 27 announcement that the Boston-based energy management software company would have a greater-than-expected fourth-quarter loss. By Feb. 29 the stock price had dropped to $14.78.

Brady came from Bellevue, Wash.-based Puget Sound Energy, which is a subsidiary of Puget Energy, where he was chief information officer.

The COO title at EnerNOC had previously been held by co-founder David Brewster, who remains president.

Neurogen Corp. (NRGN) -- 66.5% loss

Biotech firm Neurogen Corp. was already experiencing a long, slow decline of its stock prices from the end of September 2007, when it was trading for $4.44 per share, not long after naming Stephen Davis president, a move announced in September.

On Jan. 8, 2008, the company said it was halting further trails of an experimental obesity treatment based on poor results. That news steepened the stock's decline, and it was trading for $1.59 on Feb. 29.

Branford, Conn.-based Neurogen named Davis as its new CEO, in addition to his title as president, on Feb. 4, 2008. He replaced William Koster as chief executive, who is retiring but will remain a director.

Pennwest Pharmaceuticals Co. (PPCO) -- 72.3% loss

Pennwest Pharmaceuticals Co. started the month of October trading at $11.14 per share, but hasn't seen that price since. The Danbury, Conn.-based company's shares started their slide to $3.45 on Jan. 25, when the company announced it had launched a patent suit against California based Impax Laboratories Inc. over a generic version of a post-operative pain drug.

That gave Pennwest a brief bump, which was more than wiped out by the Feb. 4 announcment that a midstage trial of a new pain drug had failed to meet its main goal of reducing pain.