Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) Shares Up 6.3% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Shares jumped 6.3% Monday to about $3.62 intraday, but on unusually light trading (~2.92M shares vs. a 14.78M average, roughly 80% below normal).
• Analyst views are mixed—six Buys, four Holds and two Sells—yielding a consensus "Hold" and an average price target of $8.88, while individual targets range widely from $2 to $16.
• Iovance posted a small quarterly beat (EPS -$0.18 vs. -$0.22; revenue $86.8M vs. $81.6M) but remains unprofitable with a ~-148% net margin and negative ROE, even as institutional ownership is high (~77%) after sizable fund buying.

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA - Get Free Report) shot up 6.3% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $3.75 and last traded at $3.6150. 2,924,554 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 14,777,200 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on IOVA. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "sell" rating and issued a $2.00 price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $5.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Chardan Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Friday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Iovance Biotherapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $8.88.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Stock Up 10.7%

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $3.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.90. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.37 and a beta of 0.69.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $86.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.61 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 148.41% and a negative return on equity of 54.54%. Equities research analysts expect that Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iovance Biotherapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 161.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 522,887 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 322,680 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 279.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 59,540 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 43,829 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 30.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,571,902 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $18,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,301,846 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 202.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,777,344 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $19,239,000 after acquiring an additional 3,869,617 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 112.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,466 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 25,083 shares during the period. 77.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company specializing in the development and commercialization of tumor‐infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors. The company's lead product candidate, lifileucel (formerly LN‐144), is an autologous TIL therapy in late‐stage clinical development for patients with advanced melanoma. Iovance's pipeline also includes next‐generation TIL programs such as LN‐145 for cervical and other human papillomavirus (HPV)‐related cancers, as well as exploratory studies in head and neck, non‐small cell lung, gastric and other solid tumor indications.

Iovance's TIL platform harnesses a patient's own immune system by isolating, expanding and reinfusing tumor‐reactive lymphocytes.

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