Top Performer for Wednesday: Discovery Labs (DSCO)

Discovery Laboratories, Inc. (DSCO - Snapshot Report) is a development-stage pharmaceutical company that focuses on developing compounds to treat respiratory diseases that affect the ability of the lungs to absorb oxygen.

With a gain of more than 8%, DSCO made the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List for Wednesday. It has traded more than 1.9 million shares today, which is better than its average volume of a little more than 1 million.

Analysts have narrowed their loss estimates on DSCO over the past month. Expectations for this year are now at a loss of 47 cents, narrower than the loss from a month ago of 59 cents. Meanwhile, loss expectations for next year improved to 43 cents from 64 cents.

In its fourth-quarter report from mid March, the company lost only 8 cents per share, which was narrower than both the year-ago loss of 14 cents and the loss consensus of 10 cents.

DSCO is 1 of 19 companies from the Med-Biomed/Gene industry. Other top performers today included Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc. (MBRX - Snapshot Report), Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MIPI - Snapshot Report) and Novavax, Inc. (NVAX - Snapshot Report). Take a look at the other companies from this space on the Zacks #1 Rank List, which includes 208 stocks Wednesday.