Jacksonville stocks rise as market hits record highs (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Daily Record) — As the stock market reached record highs in the third quarter, most of the public companies headquartered in the Jacksonville area rose with it.
Of the 20 publicly traded companies, 16 ended the quarter higher, with 12 of them registering double-digit percentage gains.
The big winner was Ponte Vedra Beach-based Cadrenal Therapeutics Inc., which jumped higher after a 1-for-15 reverse stock split in August.
Cadrenal is developing an anticoagulant drug called tecarfarin that it says is an alternative treatment for patients with certain conditions.
While the company cites progress with clinical trials leading to potential U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment, it has no products on the market and no revenue and the stock performed poorly after a January 2023 initial public offering at $5 a share.
The stock was trading at 40 cents in August before the reverse split, in which stockholders received one share for every 15 they owned.
Cadrenal needed the split to maintain its listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, which requires stocks to trade above $1.
The split immediately raised the price to $5.81 when the market opened Aug. 20 and the stock continued climbing, closing at $13.65 on Sept. 30 and registering a 94% net gain for the quarter.
Another big winner was PureCycle Technologies Inc., which also has no revenue but has a product under development that it expects to generate sales soon.
PureCycle is developing a process that purifies recycled plastic products.
The stock jumped in mid-September after announcing two major investors injected $90 million in new capital to the company. It ended the quarter up 60%.
PureCycle’s operations are conducted at a plant in Ironton, Ohio. However, in May the company began listing a Jacksonville office as its headquarters in Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
A longtime Jacksonville-based company, ParkerVision Inc., recorded the biggest percentage gain in the quarter, rising 275%.
However, that reflected an increase of 33 cents to 45 cents in the quarter.
ParkerVision also has no products on the market and is focusing its business on several patent infringement lawsuits against major telecommunications product manufacturers, alleging they are illegally using wireless technology developed by the company.
ParkerVision’s stock moved higher in early September after a favorable court ruling on one of its lawsuits, against Qualcomm Inc., which will likely allow the company to argue its case in front of a federal court jury.
The worst performer among area companies trading above $1 was Ponte Vedra-based Treace Medical Concepts Inc., which disappointed investors in the spring with a lower growth forecast.
The maker of surgical procedures to treat bunions and other foot issues fell 13% in the quarter.