U.S. stock markets notched their best returns since 2013, retaining an inner calm as turmoil raged around them. Against that backdrop, an index of Colorado stocks somehow found a way to post a negative return.
“It has been a barn-burner of a year,” said Michael Gegen, senior vice president with The Gegen Group at Robert W. Baird in Cherry Creek.
The S&P 500 rose a robust 19.4 percent to 2673.61; the Dow Jones industrial average was up 25.1 percent to 24719.2; and the Nasdaq composite index gained 28.2 percent to 6903.4.
A lightness of being ruled. In a historic first, the S&P 500 suffered no down months the entire year, and volatility was remarkably low, Gegen said.
But the Bloomberg Colorado index, a basket of 68 stocks based in the state, ended the year down 4.4 percent. Because the index is price-weighted, the highest-priced stocks in the state carry a disproportionate influence on its performance.
Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill, which represents an eighth of the total weighting in the Colorado index, was down 23.4 percent for the year. Even the introduction of queso and the resignation of founder and CEO Steve Ells couldn’t appease unhappy investors.
Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology were all the buzz in the second half of the year, and stocks even remotely attached to any of those themes went through the roof.
Riot Blockchain, a new entrant in that realm, was the state’s top performing stock in 2017, with a 639.6 percent gain. Until October, the Castle Rock firm operated as Bioptix Inc., a biotech firm focused on animal fertility products. Before that, it was called Venaxis and, before that, AspenBio Pharma Inc.
Through late August, Bioptix was down 2.2 percent. Carried by the bitcoin frenzy, its share price shot up from the $3 range to a high of $38.60 on Dec. 19 before ending the year at $28.40 a share on Friday.
“Crazy year in the markets between double-digit stock market returns, the passage of the tax bill, Bitcoin and now oil trading back over $ 60 a barrel,” said Fred Taylor, president of Denver-based money manager Northstar Investment Advisors.
Shares of Ampio Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in the Denver Tech Center, gained 352.1 percent on the year, after its arthritis drug Ampion showed good results in clinical trials. Unique Mobility, a Longmont maker of electric motors and propulsion systems for heavy-duty vehicles, had a 223.3 percent jump in its share price.
At the other extreme, a revival in coal production this year and favorable political winds under the Trump administration couldn’t rescue Westmoreland Coal Co. Shares of the heavily leveraged coal miner were down 93.2 percent in 2017.
Other Colorado companies down big were Aytu Bioscience, a maker of urological products that suffered a share price decline of 90.7 percent; biofuels maker Gevo, down 82.9 percent; and CPI Card Group, a maker of financial payment cards whose shares dropped 82.3 percent.
