The NASDAQ could not make it 11 days in a row to close at a record high, but it still finished Friday above 9,000.
Its five largest components: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet/Google naturally get the bulk of investor and media attention. But as we head into the end of 2019, it looks like three drug/biotech companies and one tech services company will be the “Final Four” for the best performing NASDAQ stocks for this year.
They are not brand names that people instantly recognize — or retail investors buy — but that could change depending on several products these companies have in development.
The “Final Four” for best NASDAQ performers of 2019 are:
- Axsome Therapeutics — This company is up more than 3,000 percent in 2019 with two days of trading left to go. It is no household name like Facebook or Apple, but it is a company that can help millions of households with its products. Axsome has seemingly developed the first-ever antidepressant, which relieves symptoms of depression without psychotomimetic side effects. Should it garner FDA approval the stock will almost certainly move higher. It also has a product development line that includes treatments for narcolepsy and migraines.
- Constellation Pharmaceuticals — This company is up above 1,000 percent this year. In November, the stock shot up 95 percent in one day based on positive results for a treatment for myelofibrosis, a rare type of bone marrow cancer that disrupts the normal production of blood cells. It is also conducting a trial for the treatment of prostate cancer.
- Kodiak Sciences — This company, which only went public in October of 2018 with an IPO price of $10, closed Friday at $73.23 and is up more than 930 percent year-to-date. The company specializes in “novel therapeutics to treat chronic, high-prevalence retinal diseases,” or in plainer terms: It is creating products to combat the causes of blindness. One of its most promising pipeline candidates is a treatment for diabetic eye diseases
- Everquote — This company is not in the medical or drug sector is still a high-flyer for 2019 up more than 770 percent. This online insurance marketplace started with auto insurance and in 2011 and has since branched out to other forms of insurance such as homeowners. The company is free to consumers and makes it money collecting referral fees from insurance providers when customers buy policies. It does not allow companies to pay to be included in its site’s recommendations. It became a public company in June of 2018.
Two other pharmaceutical companies — Relmada Therapeutics, which is up 750 percent, and Prevention Bio. up 727 percent, could have a monster rally in the final days of the year to overtake Everquote, but the tech company should be able to maintain its “Final Four” standing.
