Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Absci shares gapped down, opening at $5.04 vs. the prior close of $5.75 and last trading near $5.60 on roughly 2.0M shares; analyst coverage is mixed (3 Buys, 1 Hold, 1 Sell) with an average "Hold" rating and a $6.44 target.
• In the most recent quarter Absci reported a ($0.19) EPS that slightly beat estimates but revenue was just $0.22M versus $1.39M expected, leaving the company deeply unprofitable and analysts forecasting about -0.7 EPS for the year.
• Insider Andreas Busch bought 100,000 shares at $2.29 (insiders own ~10.5%), and institutional ownership is ~52% with notable stake increases from State Street, ARK and Price T. Rowe.

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $5.75, but opened at $5.04. Absci shares last traded at $5.6010, with a volume of 1,996,412 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ABSI. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Absci in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered Absci from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $4.32 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Absci in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Absci has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $6.44.

Absci Stock Down 0.6%

The business has a 50 day moving average of $3.29 and a 200 day moving average of $3.31. The company has a market capitalization of $888.40 million, a P/E ratio of -6.71 and a beta of 2.36.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.01. Absci had a negative return on equity of 62.33% and a negative net margin of 4,113.68%.The company had revenue of $0.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Absci Corporation will post -0.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Absci

In related news, insider Andreas Busch acquired 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.29 per share, for a total transaction of $229,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 421,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $965,111.34. This trade represents a 31.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Absci

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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 worth $20,908,000 after buying an additional 3,925,926 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Absci in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,201,000. Baker BROS. Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Absci in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,450,000. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Absci by 21.1% in the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,162,773 shares of the company's stock worth $36,975,000 after buying an additional 2,116,845 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Absci by 2,955.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,156,067 shares of the company's stock worth $7,526,000 after buying an additional 2,085,501 shares during the period. 52.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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