If the idea of doubling your money in the near term excites you, I've got some good news. Wall Street analysts who get paid to watch these three biotechnology companies think they're worth more than twice their recent prices.
There are no guarantees that these stocks will reach their consensus price targets, but there are good reasons to expect a bright future for each company.
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1. Fate Therapeutics
Fate Therapeutics (FATE -5.29%) shares are down around 55% from an all-time high that the stock reached in January. Wall Street analysts think it can rebound and soar right past its former high point. The consensus price target among Wall Street analysts represents a 101% premium over Fate Therapeutics' recent price.
The company's stock tumbled this summer in response to clinical-trial results for two experimental cancer immunotherapies in phase 1 trials. Investors are worried they might not be competitive with treatments that are already available.
Among the first 14 lymphoma patients treated with FT596, an off-the-shelf treatment made from natural killer (NK) cells, seven achieved complete remission. Among the first 11 lymphoma patients treated with FT516, six achieved complete remission.
Expectations for Fate Therapeutics are still extremely high, even though its stock has dropped. The company's recent market cap of around $5 billion suggests at least one of its candidates can become a new blockbuster in a few years.
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2. Adaptive Biotechnologies
Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT 0.78%) is a biotech-adjacent stock that peaked in January and then fell hard. It's down 61% from its high-water mark, but the average analyst on Wall Street thinks it still has a chance to soar. The consensus price target for Adaptive Biotechnologies stock is 113% above its recent price.
This company isn't developing new drugs. Instead, it's drawing a map of the human immune system that's extremely useful for drug developers. This map also allows the company to develop diagnostics to monitor cancer patients in remission for signs of recurrence.
Adaptive Biotechnologies reported revenue in the third quarter that soared 50% year over year. At just $39.5 million, though, revenue wasn't sufficient to cover operating expenses that rose 51% year over year. As a result, the company posted a net loss that grew 53% year over year to $56 million.
Adaptive Biotechnologies recently earned a local coverage determination from one of the largest Medicare billing services in the southeast U.S. This will make it easier for healthcare providers in this region to receive reimbursement after ordering one of Adaptive Biotechnologies' tests.
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3. Axsome Therapeutics
Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM -2.61%) stock collapsed this summer and is still around 57% below the high-water mark set near the end of 2020. Optimistic investment-bank analysts who follow the stock think it could soar 134% above its recent price.
This was one of the best-performing stocks of 2019, but a regulatory snafu brought it crashing down this August. Investors were expecting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve an application under review for Axsome Therapeutics' lead candidate AXS-05 for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Instead, the company told investors the FDA wouldn't be approving its first drug on the expected action date, due to inefficiencies.
During its third-quarter earnings call, the company told us there were two deficiencies in the section of the application that deals with manufacturing AXS-05, not the drug itself. Manufacturing issues are generally fixable, but we don't have any timeline yet.
The indefinite delay of AXS-05 as a treatment for depression is disappointing, but it wasn't as awful as the stock performance suggests. In addition to AXS-05 for depression, the FDA is reviewing an application that could make AXS-07 a new treatment for migraine headaches. The company also has a narcolepsy drug in phase 3 testing.
Even if we assume AXS-05 for depression has no future, the rest of this company's assets are most likely worth more than the company's measly $1.4 billion market cap right now.
