Cibus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBUS) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 66.8% in March to 3,427,664 shares (about 7.2% of shares sold short), producing a short-interest ratio of 3.9 days based on average daily volume.
• Cibus trades near $1.39 with a market cap of roughly $96M; it reported Q1 EPS of ($0.42) (slightly beating estimates) but missed revenue expectations and remains loss-making with very negative margins.
• Analyst coverage is mixed—MarketBeat shows an average rating of Hold with an average price target of $9, while individual firms range from Jefferies' $3 target (hold) to Weiss Ratings' sell; institutional ownership is about 33.8%.

Cibus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBUS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,427,664 shares, an increase of 66.8% from the March 15th total of 2,055,342 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 880,176 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 7.2% of the company's shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBUS. Rockland Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Cibus during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. PACK Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cibus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in Cibus during the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in Cibus during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cibus in the 1st quarter valued at $73,000. Institutional investors own 33.81% of the company's stock.

Cibus Stock Performance

Shares of CBUS opened at $1.39 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $96.19 million, a P/E ratio of -0.46 and a beta of 1.93. Cibus has a twelve month low of $1.09 and a twelve month high of $4.19. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $2.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Cibus (NASDAQ:CBUS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported ($0.42) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 million. Cibus had a negative return on equity of 174.58% and a negative net margin of 3,492.30%. On average, analysts forecast that Cibus will post -2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CBUS. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Cibus from $1.90 to $3.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Cibus in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $9.00.

Cibus Company Profile

Cibus, Inc is a biotechnology company specializing in precision gene editing for agricultural applications. Leveraging its proprietary Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS), Cibus develops improved crop traits without the introduction of foreign DNA. The company's platform enables targeted modifications to plant genomes, allowing for enhanced disease resistance, herbicide tolerance and yield optimization in key row crops.

The company's core business centers on trait development services and licensing partnerships.

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