Jacksonville stocks mostly underperformed the overall market in 2024, but four local companies that had been out of favor more than doubled in price.
Space technology firm Redwire Corp. led the way, jumping from $2.85 at the beginning of the year to $16.46 at the close Dec. 31, a 478% gain.
Redwire disappointed investors soon after going public in September 2021 when an accounting issue forced delays in its initial financial reports. With the company failing to live up to its lofty revenue projections, the stock continued to lag through 2023.
However, with better revenue growth in 2024 and expectations that space companies will do well in the second Trump administration, Redwire’s stock surged.
ParkerVision Inc. also rose more than 400% in 2024 but that represented an increase from its trading price of just 16 cents at the end of 2023 to 88 cents at the end of last year.
The Jacksonville-based developer of wireless technology, which has no products on the market, jumped higher in September after a favorable court ruling in one of its patent infringement lawsuits.
ParkerVision has several lawsuits pending against major telecommunications manufacturers alleging they are illegally using its technology.
The other two leaders among Jacksonville-based stocks last year were Duos Technologies Group Inc., which rose 106%, and Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc., which rose 104%.
Both stocks had been suffering from disappointing results but Rayonier Advanced Materials, or RYAM, reported an operating profit in the first nine months of 2024 after five consecutive years of net losses from continuing operations.
Duos announced a deal in November to deploy and operate a fleet of energy assets that it estimated will produce $42 million in revenue over two years.
The company’s total revenue was $5.8 million in the first nine months of 2024.
One other company that called Jacksonville home in 2024, for a brief period, also doubled in price.
PureCycle Technologies, which is developing a process to purify recycled plastic products, jumped 153%, with most of the gains coming in the fourth quarter.
PureCycle had no revenue in the first nine months of the year but investors were encouraged as the company said it was getting closer to commercialization of its process.
Most of the company’s operations are at a plant in Ohio but beginning in June, it listed an office at 4651 Salisbury Road as its headquarters in Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
But in October it began listing an Orlando address as its principal office. PureCycle had also listed an Orlando office as its headquarters before using the Jacksonville address.
After going public in January 2023, Ponte Vedra Beach-based Cadrenal Therapeutics Inc. was the worst performing local stock that year, losing 85% of its value by the end of December.
However, the pharmaceutical development company rebounded in 2024 after a 1-for-15 reverse stock split increased its trading price in August.
Cadrenal ended 2024 31% higher than its split-adjusted price from the end of 2023.
CEO Quang Pham said in a Dec. 31 news release that Cadrenal has a plan for its first product, called tecarfarin, to be approved to treat patients using left ventricular assist devices, or LVADs.
Tecarfarin is an anticoagulant targeted for patients with certain conditions.
“We look ahead to 2025 and the initiation of the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for tecarfarin in LVAD and developing this much-needed therapeutic solution for advanced heart failure patients with implanted LVADs,” he said.
Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, was the only other Jacksonville-based company to beat the S&P 500 index’s 23.3% gain for 2024.
FIS was another rebounding stock, rising 34% last year after dropping 11% in 2023.
The financial technology company benefited from selling off a majority stake in its Worldpay merchant payments subsidiary early in 2024.
Worldpay had produced disappointing results after FIS acquired the company for $43 billion in 2019.
Raymond James analyst John Davis downgraded his rating on FIS on Jan. 6 but he still forecasts gains in the stock this year.
“We are downgrading FIS to Outperform from Strong Buy following a strong 2024 that featured significant outperformance on the heels of solid execution,” Davis said in his research note.
“That said, while we continue to like the risk/reward entering 2025, we believe the lack of a near-term catalyst alongside the significant re-rating in the stock justifies a downtick in our rating,” he said.
Davis lowered his target price for the stock from $115 to $101, but that would still be a sizable gain from its $80.26 trading price at the time of his report.
“Although we ultimately do believe management executes on accelerating growth, it will likely take multiple quarters for investors to gain comfort in the outlook,” he said.
Title insurer Fidelity National Financial Inc., which spun off FIS in 2006, rose 10% last year but one analyst thinks another spinoff could help its stock in 2025.
Deutsche Bank analyst Mark DeVries upgraded his rating on Fidelity from “hold” to “buy” in a Jan. 2 report on a group of consumer and diversified finance stocks.
“The results of the November election appear to have rekindled animal spirits, boosting business and consumer confidence in anticipation of a more pro-business political environment, which has raised expectations for the U.S. economy but lowered expectations for further Fed easing,” DeVries said in his report.
“We believe this bodes well for stocks levered to consumer credit and spend, but less well for stocks levered to the mortgage market, which remains subdued due to high rates and low housing supply,” he said.
As a title insurer, Fidelity’s business is closely tied to the mortgage market, but DeVries said the company could benefit with a move involving its F&G Annuities & Life Inc. subsidiary.
Fidelity acquired F&G in June 2020 and spun off 15% of the annuity and life insurance company as a separate public company in December 2022.
Investors have been anticipating a spinoff of Fidelity’s remaining 85% stake since F&G went public.
“FNF trades cheaply on muted title earnings, but we expect the company to spin off its interest in F&G in 2025, which should unlock value from a sum-of-the-parts discount and provide a catalyst for outperformance that is independent of the mortgage cycle,” DeVries said.
“With the 5-year anniversary of the FG acquisition approaching at the end of 2Q25, FNF will soon have the option to distribute the shares tax free. While management has not explicitly stated an intention to spin the business, based on their history we believe this is a highly likely outcome,” he said.
DeVries has a $77 price target for Fidelity, which ended 2024 at $56.14.
In a year when major stock indexes reached record highs, 10 of the 19 publicly traded companies headquartered in Northeast Florida fell in 2024.
The two stocks that registered the biggest gains in 2023 both declined last year.
Dream Finders Homes Inc. quadrupled in price in 2023 but dropped 35% in 2024 as home builder stocks fell back, particularly late in the year.
Cadre Holdings Inc. slipped 2% in 2024 after gaining 63% the previous year.
One Jacksonville-based company, Proficient Auto Logistics Inc., took advantage of the strong overall stock market to launch its initial public offering in May.
However, the company, which transports automobiles from manufacturers to dealers, was hurt by a slowdown in auto production.
The stock lost almost half its value from its $15 IPO price, closing the year at $8.07. The 46% decline since the IPO was the biggest drop by any Jacksonville company trading above $1 at the end of the year.
Ponte Vedra-based Treace Medical Concepts Inc. had the second-biggest decline, falling 42% after a 45% drop in 2023.
The 2024 decline was caused by a lower revenue growth forecast in May.
Treace, which was priced at $17 in its April 2021 IPO and traded as high as $37.17 in June 2021, ended 2024 at $7.44.
Jacksonville-based staffing company GEE Group Inc. said Jan. 6 it acquired Hornet Staffing Inc., an Atlanta-based company that provides staffing solutions for large-scale companies in the information technology, professional and customer service sectors.
GEE Group said the deal will help it secure new business from Fortune 100 and other large companies.
“We will continue to seek acquisitions that fit our criteria and to deploy GEE Group’s capital judiciously, with the primary objective of maximizing shareholder value,” CEO Derek Dewan said in a news release.
GEE Group said the acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings but it did not disclose financial details.
The company’s stock fell from 50 cents at the end of 2023 to 21 cents at Dec. 31, but the stock jumped as high as 51 cents in early trading Jan. 6 after announcing the acquisition. It fell back to close at 28 cents.
FRP Holdings Inc. said in a Jan. 3 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that David deVilliers Jr. resigned as president and will be succeeded by his son, David deVilliers III.
The younger deVilliers has been with the Jacksonville-based commercial real estate developer since 2001 and was appointed chief operating officer in May 2024.
His father has been with FRP since 1988 and will continue to serve as vice chairman of the board of directors.
John Baker is chairman and CEO of FRP.