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.
Proficient Auto Logistics Inc., which went public in May, was one of the four companies whose stock price fell in the third quarter.
The quarter was the first full quarter of operations for Proficient, and Stifel analyst J. Bruce Chan said automobile market conditions could disappoint some investors when it reports earnings.
Proficient was created by merging five companies that transport automobiles from manufacturers to dealers, a merger that was completed after the company’s initial public offering.
The stock sold for $15 in the IPO but closed Sept. 30 at $14.18.
“While we think the longer-term opportunity for the company and the stock are still meaningful – arguably stronger today than earlier this year when it debuted to the public market – we want investors to be cognizant of nearer-term headwinds that might impact the quarter,” Chan said in a Sept. 27 research note.
“Principally, we’re focused on softer automotive demand in the second half of this year, as well as the potential for port disruption in the early part of 4Q24,” he said.
Chan maintained his “buy” rating on the stock but lowered his price target from $22 to $21.
“We caution that 3Q24 could be a bit rocky given current demand softness, so a softer print this quarter could open up some opportunity for medium-to-longer-term investors,” he said.
“Overall, our view of the opportunity for Proficient remains unchanged. Trends continue to indicate that customers are favoring higher service levels in a disruption rife climate and that the company is winning share. Further, inorganic expansion is progressing faster than we’d expected, and the post-deal integration appears to be progressing to plan.”
Proficient expanded in August with the acquisition of a sixth company.
An analyst who specializes in stocks of cannabis and psychedelics companies rates LFTD Partners Inc. at “overweight,” although he said “we see this more as a ‘speculative buy’ type trade.”
LFTD maintains its headquarters in Jacksonville but most of its operations are conducted through a Kenosha, Wisconsin, subsidiary called Lifted Made, which manufactures and sells hemp-derived and other psychoactive products.
Its products are sold under brands called Urb, Mielos and Rebel.
Pablo Zuanic of Zuanic & Associates said in a Sept. 24 research report that LFTD’s stock price has been hurt by “regulatory challenges at the state level and uncertainty at the federal level. These, combined with commercial pressures, have led to a sales decline of almost 50% since the first quarter of 2022.”
Zuanic said LFTD is a leader in psychoactive hemp-derived products, or PHDs, and a changing regulatory climate may benefit the company.
“On our expectation that the new Farm Bill may delegate the matter of regulating PHDs to the states, and that more states will strictly regulate PHDs instead of outright banning them, we believe LFTD’s compliant strategy will lead to market share gains and top line growth,” he said.
LFTD reported revenue of $20.15 million in the first half of 2024, down from $24.98 million a year earlier.
Zuanic said 95% of the company’s revenue comes from PHDs but he expects it to diversify.
“LFTD Partners is structured as a holding company, and management’s vision calls for venturing into other segments in the future,” he said.
“CEO Gerard Jacobs has a strong track record of successfully scaling businesses across industries, which helps add credence to LFTD’s plans.”
LFTD rose 10 cents in the third quarter to 65 cents, but was still 70% lower since the beginning of 2024.
Jacksonville-based One Call announced Sept. 25 that Bruce Broussard, former president and CEO of Humana Inc., was appointed to its board of directors.
Broussard retired from health insurer Humana June 30 after 13 years as CEO.
One Call provides services for the workers’ compensation industry.
“Bruce brings a wealth of healthcare knowledge and expertise to our organization,” One Call CEO Jay Krueger said in a news release.
“While our company’s focus is coordinating care within the workers’ compensation space, we firmly believe in observing, assessing, and most importantly, learning from the broader healthcare arena to continually improve our business,” he said.
A day after completing the sale of its Salt Life apparel brand, Delta Apparel Inc. sold its Soffe brand after a bankruptcy court auction.
Duluth, Georgia-based Delta filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization June 30 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, and auctioned off the Salt Life and Soffe brands in court Aug. 27.
Salt Life, founded in 2003 in Jacksonville Beach, was sold to Iconix International Inc. and Hilco Merchant Resources Inc. after the two firms combined to bid $38.74 million for the business.
The sale closed Sept. 19 and Hilco announced Sept. 24 it was closing all 28 Salt Life stores, including the flagship Jacksonville Beach store and another at the St. Augustine Premium Outlets mall at Interstate 95 and Florida Road 16.
The new owners will focus on a wholesale and e-commerce business model for Salt Life.
The Salt Life Food Shack restaurants were not owned by Delta and are not impacted by the court proceedings and sale of the apparel brand.
Renfro Brands closed on the acquisition of MJ Soffe on Sept. 20 after bidding $15.3 million at the court auction.
Renfro said in a Sept. 26 news release that Soffe is an athletic and lifestyle brand known for its connection with athletes, military personnel and active lifestyles. Renfro makes socks and legwear products and said the addition of Soffe helps the company diversify.
“By adding MJ Soffe to its growing portfolio, Renfro further expands its market reach and taps into additional customer segments within the activewear and lifestyle apparel industries,” it said.
Delta, which acquired Salt Life for $37 million in 2013, sold merchandise under three brands: Delta, Salt Life and Soffe.
According to its most recent financial report, Salt Life had sales of $25.9 million in the six months ended March 31 and the rest of the company produced sales of $133 million. It did not report individual sales figures for Soffe.
Delta has not filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan and has not said whether it plans to continue operating the Delta activewear brand.
Publicly traded Delta cautioned investors in a Sept. 24 SEC filing that trading in its stock is “highly speculative.” The stock was trading at 58 cents when it filed the Chapter 11 petition and has been priced below one penny for the past month.
“Trading prices for the Company’s securities may bear little or no relationship to the actual recovery, if any, by holders of the Company’s securities in the Chapter 11 Cases,” the SEC filing said.
“The Company expects that holders of shares of the Company’s common stock will experience a complete or significant loss on their investment, depending on the outcome of the Chapter 11 Cases.”