CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP -4.14%) stock surged by roughly 9.3% in Tuesday's trading, following a 3.9% gain for the stock on Monday.
The broader market started the week with a brutal sell-off, but the biotech gained ground Monday thanks in part to an interview given by CEO Sam Kulkarni at Cowen's 42nd annual Health Care Conference. Growth stocks enjoyed some rebound momentum in Tuesday's session, and the executive's comments helped spur more gains for his company's share price.
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Should investors pounce on this biotech stock?
Speaking at Cowen's conference, Kulkarni provided updates on CTX001, a treatment for beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease; CTX110, a treatment for malignant tumors; and other aspects of the business. Kulkarni indicated he was pleased with how CTX001 was performing in clinical trials, and his comment that the strength of its trial data would "speak for itself" can be viewed as particularly promising. He also said that he sees CTX110, which uses gene-editing of chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T), could be the first therapy in its category to market and might wind up generating $1 billion in annual sales.
Even after the encouraging update and Tuesday's big gain, CRISPR Therapeutics is still down by roughly 71% from the high that it hit in January 2021, and that long pullback may have created a worthwhile buying opportunity for risk-tolerant investors.
With growth-dependent and otherwise speculative stocks suffering declines due to a range of market pressures, interested investors should probably move forward with the understanding that CRISPR Therapeutics could experience additional volatile swings in the near term. However, the stock is worth a close look based on the promise of the company's gene-editing-based treatments. This is a high-risk, high-reward play, but the stock has explosive upside potential, especially on the heels of its big sell-offs over the last year, and it could provide a big payoff for patient investors.
