图片
Last week, $Editas Medicine(EDIT)$, a clinical-stage genome-editing company, made two major announcements that sent its stock up 41.6% and remained up 34.8% for the week as of Friday's close. The two big benefits are the gene-editing company's latest quarterly report and the latest progress of the trial.
Last Wednesday, Editas Medicine released its fourth-quarter report, which was better than investors' expectations. Specifically, the company reported revenue of $60 million and a loss of $0.23 per share, while analysts expected revenue of $7.94 million and a loss of $0.54 per share.
However, compared to its revenue and earnings, Editas' cash position is even more noteworthy. As of December 31, 2023, the company had $427.1 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term securities. According to management, this cash, combined with recent licensing fees and advances from $Vertex Pharmaceuticals(VRTX)$, will be sufficient to cover the company's operating expenses and capital expenditures until 2026.
Compared to this news, Editas' financial report takes a backseat. The company announced that it has reached an agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct its Ruby trial of EDIT-301 for the treatment of severe sickle cell disease as a standalone 1/2/3-phase trial. This will support the company's expected Biologics License Application (BLA). Editas expects to have enough data to support this application later this year.
Upon hearing this news, Wall Street analysts are even more bullish on the company's prospects, with several analysts raising their target prices.
Citigroup analysts increased their target price for Editas stock to $16 from $11, maintaining their "buy" rating based on the company's fourth-quarter report and trial updates. Meanwhile, Barclays analyst Gena Wang raised her target price to $11, maintaining her "equal weight" ("hold") rating based on the fourth-quarter results.
While the earnings trend is positive, it's important to remind investors that Editas still only has one clinical-stage project and may need more than a year to submit an application to the FDA. Additionally, the genome editing company has a market capitalization of only $860 million, so the risk is still high.
Comments