ImmunityBio (IBRX) Moves 7.0% Higher: Will This Strength Last?
ImmunityBio IBRX shares soared 7% in the last trading session to close at $8.46. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 2.7% loss over the past four weeks.
Recently, ImmunityBio’s founder and executive chairman, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, through his investment vehicle Nant Capital, led an $11.3 million PIPE financing for small-cap biotech PDS Biotechnology. Alongside the financing, a Nant affiliate received a one-year exclusive right to negotiate a license for PDS0101, PDS’s investigational HPV-targeted immunotherapy.
The deal appears to have renewed investor focus on Soon-Shiong’s broader cancer-immunotherapy strategy and potential pipeline synergies with ImmunityBio, helping put IBRX’s own immunotherapy platform back in the spotlight.
This immunotherapy company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.08 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -14.3%. Revenues are expected to be $60.75 million, up 89.5% from the year-ago quarter.
Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.
For ImmunityBio, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on IBRX going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
ImmunityBio is part of the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. PTC Therapeutics PTCT, another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 0.6% higher at $68. PTCT has returned -8.3% in the past month.
PTC Therapeutics' consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.15. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of -25%. PTC Therapeutics currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"
Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.
Of course, all our elite picks aren't winners, but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks' Stocks Set to Double like D-Wave Quantum, which shot up +680.1%.
Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpImmunityBio, Inc. (IBRX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
