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An analysis of the stock price performance of New England technology companies during the first decade of this century shows that life sciences companies dominated, providing the greatest return from 2000 through 2009.
Of nearly 60 companies taken from the Mass High Tech and Bentley University New England Technology Stock Index, Hologic Inc. of Bedford, a maker of women’s health products, led the top performers by ending 2009 at 866.7 percent of its 2000 share price.
At the same time, some of the companies suffering the greatest losses in share price value were on the IT side — networking and Internet infrastructure companies as well as software and semiconductors.
Richard Gibble, director of the Hughey Center for Financial Services at Bentley, noted that competition is one factor that helped life sciences stocks. “I don’t think we’ve seen foreign competition erode the businesses of biotech and medical devices companies quite as much as we have in the semiconductor space, and I think software has been demystified, and in many cases made cheap or free since the early 2000s, to a point where investors are not willing to throw money at just any firm with an unproven business model — or with a good product, but no demonstrated way to monetize it,” he said.
Gibble also noted that the IT sector “got caught up in the tech mania” after recovering from the Internet bubble that burst after 1999 and 2000. He speculated that investors looked at IT as a sure thing around 2004, but later came to the realization that the firms were overvalued.
The biggest returns in the 2000’s
Click to see chart.
Explainer text for both charts below
The smallest returns in the 2000's
Click to see chart.
Explainer text for both charts below
| Company | Industry | Total Return | Price on 1/3/2000 | Price on 12/31/2009 | Price change only |
| Hologic Inc. | Medical appliances and equipment | 866.66 | 1.5 | 14.5 | 866.7% |
| Idexx Laboratories Inc. | Diagnostic substances | 565.52 | 8.03 | 53.45 | 565.5% |
| Amphenol Corp. | Electronics | 455 | 8.4 | 46.18 | 449.4% |
| Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. | Drug manufacturing | 230.98 | 14.75 | 48.82 | 231% |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. | Scientific and technical instruments | 269.55 | 15 | 47.69 | 217.9% |
| Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. | Semiconductor equipment | 149.36 | 14.39 | 35.88 | 149.4% |
| Waters Corp. | Scientific and technical instruments | 140.62 | 25.75 | 61.96 | 140.6% |
| Haemonetics Corp. | Medical instruments and supplies | 134.05 | 23.56 | 55.15 | 134.1% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | Drug manufacturing | 128.15 | 18.78 | 42.85 | 128.2% |
| Genzyme Corp. | Biotechnology | 123.72 | 21.9 | 49.01 | 123.7% |
| Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. | Medical labs and research | NA | 19.35 | 41.51 | 114.5% |
| Millipore Corp. | Medical instruments and supplies | 117.52 | 38.19 | 72.35 | 89.5% |
| Rogers Corp. | Rubber and plastics | 60.05 | 18.93 | 30.31 | 60.1% |
| Charles River Laboratories International Inc. | Biotechnology | NA | 22 | 33.69 | 53.1% |
| American Tower Corp. | Communication services | 47.41 | 29.31 | 43.21 | 47.4% |
| Immunogen Inc. | Biotechnology | 44.55 | 5.44 | 7.86 | 44.6% |
| Repligen Corp. | Biotechnology | 34.2 | 3.06 | 4.11 | 34.2% |
| Zoll Medical Corp. | Medical equipment | 33.18 | 20.06 | 26.72 | 33.2% |
| Dynamics Research Corp. | Software and services | 28.6 | 8.25 | 10.61 | 28.6% |
| Analogic Corp. | Scientific and technical instruments | 25.78 | 33.12 | 38.51 | 16.3% |
| Progress Software Corp. | Application software | 7.47 | 27.19 | 29.22 | 7.5% |
| Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. | Drug manufacturing | 3.24 | 18.37 | 18.97 | 3.2% |
| PerkinElmer Inc. | Medical instruments and supplies | 16.07 | 20.72 | 20.59 | (0.6%) |
| Avid Technology Inc. | Electronic equipment | -2.78 | 13.12 | 12.76 | (2.8%) |
| Boston Scientific Corp. | Medical instruments and supplies | -21.74 | 11.5 | 9 | (21.7%) |
| Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. | Biotechnology | -22.38 | 2.94 | 2.28 | (22.4%) |
| Analog Devices Inc. | Semiconductors | -21.38 | 45.09 | 31.58 | (30%) |
| ATMI Inc. | Semiconductor equipment | -33.65 | 33.81 | 18.62 | (44.9%) |
| MKS Instruments Inc. | Semiconductor equipment | -48.25 | 33.62 | 17.4 | (48.3%) |
| NetScout Systems Inc. | Software and services | -49.58 | 29 | 14.62 | (49.6%) |
| Bottomline Technologies Inc. | Application software | -51.2 | 36 | 17.57 | (51.2%) |
| Abiomed Inc. | Medical instruments and supplies | -52.16 | 18.25 | 8.73 | (52.2%) |
| Cognex Corp. | Scientific and technical instruments | -46.92 | 37.03 | 17.71 | (52.2%) |
| Sepracor Inc. | Drug manufacturing | N/A | 51.78 | 22.98 | (55.6%) |
| Aspect Medical Systems Inc. | Medical instruments and supplies | N/A | 28.25 | 12.27 | (56.6%) |
| ArQule Inc. | Drug manufacturing | -57.22 | 8.62 | 3.69 | (57.2%) |
| Alkermes Inc. | Drug delivery | -63.1 | 25.5 | 9.41 | (63.1%) |
| Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. | Semiconductors | -63.84 | 27.62 | 9.99 | (63.8%) |
| Xerox Corp. | Business equipment | -61.83 | 24.19 | 8.46 | (65%) |
| Harvard Bioscience Inc. | Medical instruments and supplies | N/A | 10.5 | 3.57 | (66%) |
| Mercury Computer Systems Inc. | Computer peripherals | -66.12 | 32.5 | 11.01 | (66.1%) |
| Zigo Corp. | Scientific and technical instruments | -67.85 | 20.94 | 6.73 | (67.9%) |
| EMC Corp. | Data storage | -68.76 | 57 | 17.47 | (69.4%) |
| Brooks Automation Inc. | Semiconductor equipment | -73.5 | 32.37 | 8.58 | (73.5%) |
| Parametric Technology Corp. | Technical and system software | -73.98 | 62.81 | 16.34 | (74%) |
| Vicor Corp. | Electronics | -74.27 | 39.41 | 9.3 | (76.4%) |
| Gerber Scientific Corp. | Machinery | -75.66 | 21.5 | 5.05 | (76.5%) |
| Exact Sciences Corp. | Biotechnology | N/A | 14.75 | 3.39 | (77%) |
| Kopin Corp. | Electronics | -79.85 | 20.75 | 4.18 | (79.9%) |
| SeaChange International Inc. | Processing systems | -81.52 | 35.5 | 6.56 | (81.5%) |
| Teradyne Inc. | Semiconductor equipment | -82.64 | 61.81 | 10.73 | (82.6%) |
| Sapient Corp. | Software and services | -87.54 | 66.37 | 8.27 | (87.5%) |
| Sonus Networks Inc. | Communication equipment | N/A | 16.83 | 2.11 | (87.5%) |
| Akamai Technologies Inc. | Internet information provider | -92.11 | 321.25 | 25.34 | (92.1%) |
| Art Technology Group Inc. | Internet software and services | -92.75 | 62.22 | 4.51 | (92.8%) |
| Axcelis Technologies Inc. | Semiconductor equipment | N/A | 23.94 | 1.41 | (94.1%) |
| Curagen Corp. | Biotechnology | N/A | 39.69 | 1.47 | (96.3%) |
| Sycamore Networks Inc. | Network and communications equipment | -97.03 | 1037.92 | 20.91 | (98%) |
*Total return includes change in stock price as well as moves such as splits. Researchers evaluated companies that had at least seven years of trading during the decade.
Source: Mass High Tech and Bentley University research
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