The New Face of the TSX Venture: tech and healthcare

I’ve discussed the growing trend of increased liquidity, rising valuations and more capital flowing into tech stocks, and more recently healthcare or pharmaceutical stocks, on the TSX Venture for months.

I’ve discussed the growing trend of increased liquidity, rising valuations and more capital flowing into tech stocks, and more recently healthcare or pharmaceutical stocks, on the TSX Venture for months.

With many commodities continuing to decline and the junior mining sector all but forgotten, this trend is reaching new heights as every week the market presents a new breakout stock, from either the tech or healthcare sector, that no one has heard of.

Tech and healthcare-related issuers have now taken center stage on the TSX Venture.

The new face of the TSX Venture is Tech and Healthcare

At 11:41 AM EST on Thursday, 6 of the top 10 most liquid stocks on the TSX Venture were from the tech or healthcare sector.

This trend continued into the Top 20 as 11 of the most liquid 20 stocks on the TSX Venture were either tech or healthcare-related stocks.

Of all listed issuers on the exchange, Life Sciences companies represent only approximately 4%.

At the end of 2014, technology companies (which include companies in Clean Tech & Renewable Energy, Life Sciences, and general tech) accounted for approximately 12% of the Venture’s issuers.

On Thursday morning, the tech sector, which includes Life Sciences and healthcare-related stocks, accounted for more than 95% of the total trade value of the TSX Venture’s top 10 most liquid stocks.

While liquidity is one thing, the actual value of shares traded is another.

The six most liquid tech and healthcare-related stocks on the TSX Venture had combined for a total trade value of $7.56 million by 11:41 AM EST.

The four most liquid mining and oil and gas stocks on the TSX Venture had combined for just $232,000 by 11:41 AM EST.

This is the face of the new TSX Venture and has been a trend building for many months.

The most recent junior tech stock to break out is Peak Positioning Technologies (PKK:TSXV). Its shares had traded more than 5 million shares by 12:30 PM EST, granted at an average price of $0.02.

Peak Positioning is an IT portfolio management company who manages high-growth-potential companies and assets in some of the fastest growing tech sectors in China, including e-commerce, cloud-computing and mobile development.

The company announced the launch of a new website and a proposed financing for gross proceeds of a maximum of CAD$3,500,000 with Jones, Gable & Company Ltd., one of Canada’s older independent full-service investment dealers.

In respect to the pricing terms, the company stated,

“The proposed financing is a private placement consisting in the sale of units, to be priced in context of market conditions.”

Click here to read the entire press release.

This has left investors speculating as to the terms of the equity raise.

Peak Positioning hit a low of $0.015 this morning and was last traded at $0.025 per share. Its stock has performed terribly in the past 12 months falling from a high of $0.075 to a recent low of $0.01 – hit just last week.

The company’s latest financing closed on December 5th when it announced the sale of 25,000,000 units at a price of CAD$0.02 per unit for gross proceeds of CAD$500,000.

The company announced in that same press release “its plans to proceed with a five (5) to one (1) consolidation of its issued and outstanding shares. The consolidation will take place on a date to be determined, but no later than May 31, 2015.”

Click here to learn more.

Peak Positioning had a market cap of roughly $2.8 million Thursday. Peak is an example of the overall sentiment towards the tech sector and has been swept up in the hysteria, at least in respect to volume. Suffice to say if Peak was a junior base metals mining stock, it would not be the most liquid stock on the exchange today.

Patient Home Monitoring and Vanc Pharmaceuticals were the two largest dollar value traded stocks on the TSX Venture Thursday morning.

In October of 2014, we predicted the continued rise of the tech sector in Canada, in an article titled Which Canadian Small-Caps are Fundable?

Click here to read.

We don’t expect this trend to reverse or go anywhere anytime soon as investors continue to diversify out of mining and oil and gas equities for innovative tech and healthcare-related stocks on the TSX Venture.

This article represents solely the opinions of Alexander Smith. Alexander Smith is not an investment advisor and any reference to specific securities in the list referred to in the article does not constitute a recommendation thereof. Readers are encouraged to consult their investment advisors prior to making any investment decisions. The information in this article is of an impersonal nature and should not be construed as individualized advice or investment recommendations.

This is not an invitation to purchase any securities mentioned in this report. Pinnacle Digest does not endorse or recommend any of the referenced securities. At the time of publication and distribution of this report (10:00AM PST on March 19, 2015) neither PinnacleDigest.com, its employees or consultants owned shares in any of the mentioned companies in this report. This article is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The author of this article bears no liability for losses and/or damages arising from the use of this article. This report may contain technical or other inaccuracies, omissions, or typographical errors, for which PinnacleDigest.com and its parent company assumes no responsibility. We do not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in this report or on PinnacleDigest.com will perform as we expect, and any comparisons we have made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

All statements in this report, other than statements of historical fact, should be considered forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future performance. Much of this report is comprised of statements of projection. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements.

PinnacleDigest.com and its employees are not a registered broker-dealer or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. This article is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The author of this article bears no liability for losses and/or damages arising from the use of this article.