Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: After trekking over 5% higher immediately after the market opened, possibly inspired by a recent article in Wired discussing the company's technology platform, shares of next-generation fertility treatment and IVF technology developer OvaScience (NASDAQ: OVAS) ended Tuesday down 11.6%.
So what: Unfortunately for investors, volatility is the name of the game for OvaScience lately. The past 10 trading days have included eight days of losses ranging from 3% to 12.2%, although the only two days of gains netted over 12% each. Or think about this: The company's stock has moved by more than 3% in either direction in 34 out of 65 trading days in 2015. That's 52% of the time!
There's no denying that investors have had a lot of information to digest recently. On the positive side, catalysts range from the Wired article to new price targets set by analysts to encouraging data from the company's first product, Augment. But reasons for caution range from the absence of even a single dollar of revenue ever and the fact that shares had gained nearly 500% between last April and recent all-time highs reached at the end of March.
Now what: It may be impossible to predict if the cruel hand of volatility will ever release OvaScience stock. Then again, if you believe in the company's technology platform and market opportunity (which could be worth $22 billion in 2020) and are realistic about the hurdles facing commercialization (in 2013 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told the company it must run a gauntlet of costly clinical trials, pushing it into less stringent markets in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates), then you could be handsomely rewarded in the long run.
Therefore, I would encourage you not to join the knee jerk reactions of Mr. Market, be wise about entry points if market valuations are influenced by short-term thinking (one way or the other), and take a Foolish, long-term approach.
