Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Beam Therapeutics shares opened higher, rising from a prior close of $25.67 to $26.80 before retreating to around $25.11.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $49 target price, although one analyst maintains a sell rating.
• The company’s latest quarter showed significant weakness: Beam missed EPS and revenue estimates, revenue fell 94.2% year over year, and analysts expect a full-year loss of $4.49 per share.

Shares of Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday. The stock had previously closed at $25.67, but opened at $26.80. Beam Therapeutics shares last traded at $25.1050, with a volume of 725,886 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. William Blair upgraded Beam Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Bank of America reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Beam Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Beam Therapeutics Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 14.57 and a current ratio of 14.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.58. The company has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of -29.30 and a beta of 2.20.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($1.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.11) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $0.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 30.71% and a negative net margin of 54.75%.The firm's revenue was down 94.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.00) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Beam Therapeutics

In other Beam Therapeutics news, insider Amy Simon sold 16,667 shares of Beam Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.74, for a total value of $429,008.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,205,815.04. The trade was a 16.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Beam Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Beam Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $308,796,000. ARCH Venture Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Beam Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $155,771,929. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Beam Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $34,467,000. MWG Caph Ltd acquired a new stake in Beam Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,119,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Beam Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $24,733,000. 99.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics Inc is a biotechnology company developing precision genetic medicines using base editing, a technology designed to make targeted changes to DNA without cutting both strands of the DNA double helix. The company's platform is intended to address diseases caused by specific genetic mutations and to support the development of potentially durable treatments.

Beam's research and development activities focus on areas including hematology, liver diseases and genetic disorders.

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