Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) Shares Up 9% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Geron Corporation's stock price surged by 9% to $1.40 following FDA panel approval for its blood cancer therapy, Imetelstat.
• Despite the recent rise, analysts have mixed opinions, with ratings ranging from a sell to a strong buy, and a consensus target price set at $4.19.
• Geron's revenue increased significantly by 5455.6% year-over-year, reporting $49.04 million for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 9% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $1.41 and last traded at $1.40. Approximately 6,507,618 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the average daily volume of 12,722,346 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1.28.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Geron Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 6.79 and a current ratio of 7.87. The firm has a market cap of $925.13 million, a P/E ratio of -11.15 and a beta of 0.73. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $1.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.62.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $49.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.30 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 31.37% and a negative net margin of 53.52%. Geron's revenue was up 5455.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Geron Corporation will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Geron

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. 111 Capital bought a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Fifth Lane Capital LP bought a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Harvest Investment Services LLC bought a new stake in Geron during the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Geron Company Profile

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.