Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) Hits New 1-Year High - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Absci reached a new 52-week high of $5.25 (last $5.195), jumping about 14.2% on the day and giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $873.6 million.
• Analyst coverage is mixed with a consensus "Hold" rating and a $6.44 price target (3 Buys, 1 Hold, 1 Sell); notable calls include Needham's Buy ($7) and Morgan Stanley's downgrade to Equal Weight ($4.32).
• Underlying fundamentals are weak: Q1 EPS of -$0.23 missed estimates, revenue was $0.65M versus $1.38M expected, the company shows deeply negative margins/ROE, and analysts expect about -0.7 EPS for the fiscal year.

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $5.25 and last traded at $5.1950, with a volume of 1408079 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $4.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ABSI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Absci in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Absci from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $4.32 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Absci in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $6.44.

Absci Stock Up 14.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $873.61 million, a P/E ratio of -6.61 and a beta of 2.36. The company's 50 day moving average is $3.11 and its 200-day moving average is $3.29.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 24th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.07). Absci had a negative return on equity of 62.33% and a negative net margin of 4,113.68%.The company had revenue of $0.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 million. On average, analysts predict that Absci Corporation will post -0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Absci

In other Absci news, insider Andreas Busch acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $2.29 per share, for a total transaction of $229,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 421,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $965,111.34. This represents a 31.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Absci

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ABSI. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Absci by 190.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,990,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,908,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,926 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Absci during the fourth quarter worth about $8,201,000. Baker BROS. Advisors LP bought a new stake in Absci in the 4th quarter worth about $7,450,000. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Absci by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,162,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,975,000 after buying an additional 2,116,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Absci by 2,955.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,156,067 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,526,000 after buying an additional 2,085,501 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.05% of the company's stock.

Absci Company Profile

Absci Corporation NASDAQ: ABSI is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company's Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci's offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework.

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