Stock watch: Biocon

Biocon has underperformed the market for about one year. However, volumes of the stock are soaring on the bourses these days.

Recently, Fidelity Fund bought around 13.51 lakh shares or 1.35 per cent stake of the company in addition to 2.65 lakh shares already held by the mutual fund. SBI mutual Fund holds around 3.5 lakh shares of the counter.

On Monday, the stock was marginally down by three per cent at Rs 462 amid broad bearish sentiment in the market. Over the last week it was marginally down by 0.4 per cent. This was, however, followed by a 35 per cent spurt on volumes.

The country's leading and largest biotech company Biocon has presence in bio-pharmaceuticals, enzymes, customs research and clinical research. Biocon, along with its subsidiaries, is a fully-integrated unit with capacity ranging from cell-culture to drug-discovery.

In November 2005, Biocon entered into a licensing agreement with Bentley Pharmaceuticals for a long-term supply agreement of insulin for markets globally.

Though it has witnessed a tough third quarter with a fall in profits, the company is confident about its future as it has made rapid progress on its research and development front particularly in the oncology and diabetes segment.