Alpha Teknova (NASDAQ:TKNO) Shares Up 7.1% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Shares jumped 7.1% to about $3.02 on Monday with volume up ~59% versus average, trading as high as $3.08 intraday.
• Analysts are mixed but the consensus is a Hold with a $8.00 average price target (one Strong Buy, one Hold, one Sell).
• CEO Stephen Gunstream bought 26,000 shares at $2.15, while the company remains unprofitable (Q4 EPS -$0.09 matching estimates, negative net margin and ROE) and has a market cap of about $162M.

Alpha Teknova, Inc. (NASDAQ:TKNO - Get Free Report) shares were up 7.1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $3.08 and last traded at $3.02. Approximately 183,128 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 59% from the average daily volume of 114,883 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Alpha Teknova in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alpha Teknova has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $8.00.

Alpha Teknova Stock Performance

The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $2.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.84. The company has a market capitalization of $161.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.15 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 4.58 and a quick ratio of 3.64.

Alpha Teknova (NASDAQ:TKNO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.09). Alpha Teknova had a negative net margin of 42.59% and a negative return on equity of 23.32%. The company had revenue of $9.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.62 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alpha Teknova, Inc. will post -0.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alpha Teknova

In other news, CEO Stephen Gunstream bought 26,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $2.15 per share, for a total transaction of $55,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 269,497 shares in the company, valued at $579,418.55. This represents a 10.68% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 12.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alpha Teknova

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Susquehanna International Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Alpha Teknova by 25.0% during the third quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 16,206 shares of the company's stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 3,246 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alpha Teknova by 58.5% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 9,387 shares of the company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 3,464 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alpha Teknova by 123.1% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,163 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alpha Teknova by 7.9% during the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 80,900 shares of the company's stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Alpha Teknova during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. 13.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alpha Teknova Company Profile

Alpha Teknova, Inc NASDAQ: TKNO is a life science tools and reagents company that develops, manufactures and distributes proprietary products to support research, drug discovery and biomanufacturing. Its offerings target academic institutions, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, and diagnostic developers, with a focus on high-purity reagents and optimized workflows designed to accelerate molecular biology and protein science applications.

The company's portfolio includes molecular biology reagents, cell culture buffers, in vitro translation kits, custom recombinant proteins, high-throughput screening buffers and other specialized formulations.

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