What happened
Sorrento Therapeutics (SRNE.Q 66.67%), a clinical-stage biotech with an extensive COVID-19 product pipeline, is having a rough day today. The biotech's stock is down by a noteworthy 14% as of 10:54 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
The culprit? Investors appear to be disappointed at Sorrento's COVID-19 pipeline and research and development update yesterday. Some shareholders seemingly had high hopes that the company would announce a game-changing event -- such as an emergency use authorization (EUA) for one of its plethora of COVID-19 pipeline candidates.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Sorrento's stock has been on fire over the past few weeks leading into this pipeline update. The company, however, didn't give its investor base any groundbreaking news at this highly anticipated event.
While Sorrento's braintrust did discuss the progress of its broad COVID-19 pipeline, management didn't provide any real insight into when any of these product candidates might be ready for public consumption. This lack of guidance on the commercial side of the ledger apparently gave short-sellers an opening to pounce on this red-hot biotech stock today.
Now what
Is Sorrento's stock worth buying on this hefty pullback? Sorrento has aggressively expanded into the COVID-19 arena this year, to be sure. But it still isn't considered a leader in any of the major medical fields dealing with the ongoing pandemic. As such, it might be best to hang back until the company's diversified COVID-19 pipeline produces a bona fide commercial-stage product.
