Birchview Capital’s Top Healthcare Stock Picks

#2 Accelerate Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:AXDX)

– Shares Owned by Birchview Capital (as of March 31): 2.17 million

– Value of Holding (as of March 31): $3.78 million

Moving on, Birchview Capital upped its stake in Accelerate Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:AXDX) marginally by 1% during the first quarter. Apart from being an investor in the company, Dr. Strobeck also serves as Independent Director at the company. Among all the stocks mentioned in this article, Accelerate Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:AXDX) has suffered the worst fate this year, losing over 42% of its value since the beginning of 2016. The decline of the stock started in December itself once the company completed its secondary offering of approximately 5.59 million shares of common stock priced at $17. Despite the dismal performance of its stock in the past few months, several prominent analysts remain bullish on Accelerate Diagnostics Inc. On April 11, analysts at Piper Jaffray reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating on the stock. On the same day analysts at BTIG Research also reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating on the stock along with their price target of $26, which represents a potential upside of 107% from the stock’s current trading price. Stewart Strawbridge‘s Selkirk Management increased its stake in Accelerate Diagnostics Inc by 32% to 322,517 shares during the fourth quarter.

#1 Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)

– Shares Owned by Birchview Capital (as of March 31): 886,995

– Value of Holding (as of March 31): $3.78 million

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) continued to remain Birchview Capital’s top healthcare pick and its largest equity holding at the end of March. During the first quarter, the fund increased its holding in the company by 1% and this position alone amassed 55.6% of the value of Birchview Capital’s portfolio at the end of that period. Like the stock of most other biopharmaceutical companies, Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)’s stock has also fallen considerably this year, by 16%. However, over a five year period, Celgene Corporation is still one of the best performing stock in the biotech space, returning over 230%. For its fiscal 2016 first quarter the company recently declared EPS of $1.32 on revenue of $2.51 billion, compared to EPS of $1.07 on revenue of $2.08 billion it had reported for the same quarter last year. Along with the earnings release the company also updates its 2016 full year guidance. While it increased revenue guidance for the year to the range of $10.75 billion to $11 billion from the range of $10.50 billion to $11.00 billion, it lowered its EPS guidance to between $4.26 and $4.54 from the $4.26-$4.64 range it had announced earlier. On April 29, analysts at Morgan Stanely reiterated their ‘Hold’ rating and $129 price target on the stock. Charles Paquelet‘s Skylands Capital also increased its stake in the company during the first quarter, by 8% to 28,400 shares.

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