The Best Performing TSX Tech Stocks so far this Year

Chairman and CEO Michael Pearson helped guide Valeant to a successful first half of 2011 after being acquired by Biovail.

It’s not exactly a sea-change from the past few years when mining stocks absolutely dominated the top performers on the TSX. But halfway through 2011 technology does boast a respectable five of the top twenty performers on the exchange. We count down the top five TSX gainers so far this year. The number in brackets, by the way, is that stock’s overall rank on the exchange. This list encompasses all stocks listed on the TSX Technology, Life Sciences and Cleantech Indexes from December 31st, 2010 to July 8th 2011.

1. (7) MethylGene Inc. (TSX:MYG) 151.9%
Price on December 31st, 2010: $.135
Price on July 8th, 2011: $.34

Montreal’s Methygene, which designs cancer therapeutic drugs, lost a shade less than $15 million in 2010, forcing the company back to market for a financing management said would extend its cash runway until 2014. The subsequent financing increased the number of shares out on the company to well over three-hundred million from just over forty. But shareholders clearly liked the certaintly it brought to the company’s ability to develop MGCD265, a small-molecule inhibitor that is currently in clinical trials.

2. (11) Northcore Technologies Inc. (TSX:NTI) 129.2%
Price on December 31st, 2010:$.12
Price on July 8th, 2011: $.275

Toronto’s NorthCore, which makes software that allows companies to better track their physical assets, doubled after it renewed its deal to provide asset management tools to Kraft Foods Global. Under the guidance of new President and CEO Amit Monga, the company now plans to leverage its Dutch auction patent portfolio to enter Groupon’s social discounting space.

3. (12) Envoy Capital Group Inc. (TSX:ECG) 122.6%
Price on December 31st, 2010: $.84
Price on July 8th, 2011: $1.87

Toronto’s Envoy Capital Group, which is split between a retail branding company and a merchant bank, has gone through an extended period of turmoil, but appears to have taken steps to try and come out the other side. A restructuring highlighted by the resignation, en masse, of the entire boardwill result in a 60% reduction of overhead, says President and CEO Robert Pollock. While the stock has recovered, the jury may still be out on the changes, as Envoy is currently flipping back and forth between profitable and unprofitable quarters.

4. (16) Opmedic Group Inc. (TSX:OMG) 89.6%
Price on December 31st, 2010: $2.50
Price on July 8th, 2011: $4.74

Shares of Quebec’s Opmedic Group, which operates sperm banks and fertility clinics, leapt after Q1 2011 earnings, announced a week into the year, showed what the company described as a “significant increase in net earnings”; to nearly $1.4 million from just $569,000 a year earler. Revenue was up 49% too. The Company continued its run through til last week’s Q3, which showed a 202% increase in earnings and an increased dividend for its shareholders.

5. (20) Valeant Pharmaceuticals (TSX:VRX) 81.1%
Price on December 31st, 2010: $28.28
Price on July 8th, 2011: $51.20

The company once known as Biovail acquired US based Valeant (and their name) and created Canada’s largest publicly traded drug manufacturer. The newly created entity got its financial house in order late last year with a billion dollar splash into the debt market. The Company immediately looked around for acquisitions, settling on Dermik, a dermatology unit of Sanofi for $425 million after its $5.7 bid was rebuffed by the board of US based drug developer Cephalon. Along the way, Valeant posted a profitable Q1 that was more than double the same period in 2010.

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