Geron jumped up in trading on Thursday after a report in Seeking Alpha about the biotech company's potential to have a breakout year with its experimental cancer drugs. Some investors swoon for volatile biotech stocks with the potential for major gains, and the Menlo Park, CA-based outfit's shares were up about 15% yesterday and traded at around $2 per share.
The author of the article disclosed a long position on Geron's stock.
Last year Geron ($GERN) famously gave up on developing risky stem-cell treatments in a move to cut costs and conserve cash for its experimental treatments for cancer. The move was viewed as a blow to the fragile stem cell field, but now Geron has two candidates in mid-stage development that are expected to yield results over the next year that could elevate the company's shares or cause them to crater depending on their success.
A cautionary note: Geron is one of the oldest surviving biotechs without a marketed drug. Yet that doesn't really matter if one of the company's compounds turns out to be a winner.
"Frankly, it is rare for a biotechnology company to be operating this long without product to sell. Geron has been in business for over 2 decades. By this point, biotechnology companies are either taken over, go bankrupt, or become large drug companies, such as one of the 'Big 4' biotechnology companies," says the note on Seeking Alpha, which is credited to Helix Investment Management. "However, the next 12 months will be, in our view, the most important in Geron's history."
- here's the Seeking Alpha article
- and Bloomberg's report
Special Report: Stem cell research advances in fits and starts
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