Key Points
Lenz missed on sales and missed on Q4 earnings this morning.
The vision drugs company said it's on pace to hit 45,000 prescriptions for VIZZ by the end of Q1.
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Lenz Therapeutics (NASDAQ: LENZ) stock tumbled 11.2% through 9:50 a.m. ET Tuesday after missing on Q4 earnings.
Heading into the report, analysts forecast Lenz to lose $0.90 per share on quarterly sales of $3.1 million. Lenz lost $1.16 per share on sales of only $1.6 million.
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Introducing VIZZ from Lenz
Lens is a pharmaceutical company developing a medical alternative to reading glasses for treatment of presbyopia -- blurry near vision that increases around age 50 in most adults. The company's VIZZ eye drops are sold in single-dose vials and can temporarily improve near vision for up to 10 hours when taken once daily by causing the eye muscles to contract and focus better.
The company launched sales of VIZZ in October 2025, so Q4 was its "launch quarter." The company says it's on pace to hit 45,000 prescriptions written through the end of Q1 2026, by more than 10,000 eye doctors. Unfortunately, Q4 uptake doesn't seem to have been as strong as Wall Street was expecting.
Mostly, this seems to have been due to the company's selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) roughly quadrupling during the initial sales push.
What's next for Lenz?
Will SG&A costs abate in 2026, allowing Lenz to turn profitable? Unfortunately, management didn't give much guidance about what to expect in the coming year. To the contrary, the description of prescriptions written -- "over 45,000 paid prescriptions from launch through Q1 2026" -- actually obscures any information we might have gotten on script growth between the 2025 launch quarter and the first sequential 2026 quarter.
So we're still at a loss as to how well acceptance of the new product is growing.
Investors don't like being kept in the dark, and that's why Lenz stock is selling off.
Should you buy stock in Lenz Therapeutics right now?
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Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
