Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Key Points

• Geron Corporation saw its share price increase from $1.20 to $1.30 following a quarterly earnings report that exceeded analyst expectations, with earnings per share of ($0.02) compared to a consensus estimate of ($0.03).
• The company's quarterly revenue surged by 5455.6% year-over-year, indicating significant growth, though it currently holds a negative net margin and return on equity.
• Despite the positive earnings news, analysts continue to have mixed sentiments, with one analyst assigning a "sell" rating while the consensus remains at a "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $4.61.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $1.20, but opened at $1.30. Geron shares last traded at $1.32, with a volume of 9,292,837 shares traded.

The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.01. Geron had a negative return on equity of 30.79% and a negative net margin of 53.52%. The business had revenue of $49.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.10) EPS. Geron's revenue for the quarter was up 5455.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GERN. Scotiabank lowered Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Geron in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "sell" rating and a $1.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $4.19.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Frisch Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Geron by 84.3% in the first quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,025 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Geron in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Geron in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in Geron by 73.8% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 26,074 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 11,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Geron in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Trading Down 1.5%

The company has a market cap of $816.67 million, a PE ratio of -9.85 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 7.87 and a quick ratio of 6.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1.39 and a 200 day moving average of $1.66.

About Geron

Geron Corporation, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for myeloid hematologic malignancies. It develops imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor that is in Phase 3 clinical trials, which inhibits the uncontrolled proliferation of malignant stem and progenitor cells in myeloid hematologic malignancies for the treatment of low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes and intermediate-2 or high-risk myelofibrosis.