Wall Street Expects This Growth Stock That's Already Climbed 70% to Almost Double -- And Here's Why.
This biotech player is heading for a critical moment.
By Adria Cimino
In the world of biotech, investors aim to get in on companies working on exciting technologies that could produce game-changing products. It's risky because in the early days of research, many of these technologies are unproven. But if the company is successful and produces safe and effective treatments, revenue and stock performance may skyrocket.
Often, the stock performance comes first. This is because investors, seeing, for example, positive clinical trial data, may jump to get in on the stock well before a product wins approval and begins generating revenue.
Now here's when things get really exciting: The company delivers positive phase 3 results and gets ready to submit the potential product for regulatory approval. And right now, that's exactly what's happening with a biotech growth stock that's climbed more than 70% so far this year. But these gains may be far from over. Wall Street expects the stock to gain another 70% from today's levels over the coming 12 months. Let's check out this exciting story.
A CRISPR gene editing company
The company I'm talking about is Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA 3.17%), a biotech specializing in CRISPR gene editing, a method of fixing faulty genes responsible for disease. Since the technology involves an actual repair, it may result in one treatment or a limited number of treatments to address a particular problem -- this, resulting in a functional cure of sorts, is game-changing for patients.
Intellia has a pipeline of candidates across serious diseases, including hemophilia B and acute myeloid leukemia. And right now, it's preparing its regulatory filing for "lonvo-z," a one-time treatment for hereditary angioedema (HAE), an illness that involves unexpected and severe swelling. It's caused by an overproduction of bradykinin, a peptide that plays a key role in inflammation. Attacks in untreated patients generally happen every week to two weeks and may be dangerous as they can lead to airway obstruction.
Lonvo-z is a one-time treatment meant to inactivate a gene and, as a result, permanently lower bradykinin levels. In a phase 3 trial involving a six-week observation time, the candidate cut attacks by 87% versus placebo. And the trial met all key secondary endpoints, too, such as the following: 62% of patients remained completely attack-free during the evaluation period.
With this solid data, Intellia launched a rolling submission to the FDA -- this allows a company to progressively submit elements for review, speeding up the review process. Intellia aims to complete the submission in the second half, and if all goes smoothly, hopes to launch a product in the first half of next year.
A stock that was once overvalued
With this ahead, it's not surprising that Wall Street is optimistic about the biotech stock. Let's take a closer look at performance and expectations ahead. Though Intellia has soared this year, it's important to keep in mind that it's declined 80% over the past five years. Its peak levels, at more than $150 a few years ago, left it overvalued for a company that hadn't yet proven its technology and was far from product approval.
Today, however, even after the recent gain, the stock remains at a reasonable level considering the company's progress with lonvo-z and the fact that it has a second gene editing candidate in late-stage trials for transthyretin amyloidosis, a disease involving the abnormal buildup of proteins. Intellia may be getting very close to transitioning into a commercial-stage biotech and therefore generating revenue.
On top of this, the positive clinical trial data confirm the strength of the company's gene editing technique -- and this is something that could be used across treatment areas, suggesting we may be in the early days of an interesting long-term story.
The average Wall Street estimate calls for the stock to rise to more than $26 within the next 12 months, representing a 70% increase from today's level. If Intellia continues to deliver positive news and scores a regulatory approval in HAE, I think the stock could easily meet that forecast.