When a stock nearly doubles in value, it’s clear something happened. Probably something big at that. For healthcare stock ThermoGenesis (NASDAQ:THMO), which focuses on cell processing tools for gene therapy, what exactly happened might be a surprise, but one that added sufficient value to send the stock up over 95% in Wednesday’s trading.
In this case, ThermoGenesis surged on the news of a new facility plan. It’s moving into the Sacramento area, and it will bring 12 new suites with it. Those suites will be class-7 ReadyStart suites that will be available for both cell gene therapy and life science operations. Businesses should be ready to start moving in by the second or third quarter of this year. Full occupancy is projected to generate between $10 million and $16 million for the company.
This is part of a new strategy for ThermoGenesis, one that sees it moving from producing and supplying medical devices to one that makes it a player in manufacturing and contract development in gene therapy. Chris Xu, ThermoGenesis’ CEO and chairman, noted that the move to offer the ReadyStart suites was to provide a means for early-stage companies to effectively create a product while being able to operate within often-constraining budgets. They function as a turnkey solution, containing everything the new businesses need in one area.
The last five days of ThermoGenesis trading show what a great idea this was, especially when considering that ThermoGenesis was actually on a slow decline before the news hit. While ThermoGenesis stock is slightly off its highs for today, it’s still substantially up over this timeframe.
