What happened
Physics-based software maker and drug researcher Schrodinger (SDGR 1.56%) had an amazing day Thursday, as its shares shot up 33.3% on a positive note from Citron Research.
Today, we're seeing the sequel to that news as Schrodinger shares climbed another 6.7% through 12:40 p.m. EST, after being up as much as 15% earlier Friday.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Only two weeks ago, Schrodinger was a brand-new IPO trading for just $17 a share. How can that stock, and this stock that costs three times as much, be the same stock?
And yet, if you buy Citron's argument that Schrodinger is basically the drug development equivalent of Tesla -- able to disrupt markets in a single bound -- then maybe it does make sense. After all, Citron says Schrodinger is worth $80 a share. If you believe that, then the stock's current $51 share price is still actually a bargain, and there's no reason not to buy it.
Now what
There may be one reason, though, such as the fact that Schrodinger has never earned a profit, nor produced any positive free cash flow. Or another reason, like the fact that while it's growing, Schrodinger's sales are up only about 38% over the past two years -- impressive to be sure, but maybe not "200% stock price profits in two weeks" impressive.
Then again, if an analyst argues that 39 times sales is a valuation too cheap to resist, maybe logic isn't exactly that analyst's forte.
