Why Inovio Pharmaceuticals' Shares Jumped 17.31% on Monday

What happened

Shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO -2.02%) rose 17.31% on Monday. The clinical-stage biotech company specializes in developing and commercializing DNA medicines to help treat and prevent infectious diseases, cancer, and diseases associated with HPV (human papillomavirus), the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.

Inovio's stock closed at $1.56 on Friday, then opened on Monday at $1.63. its stock rose to as high as $1.865 shortly before the close and finished the day at $1.83. Inovio has a 52-week low of $1.38 and a 52-week high of $7.77, and is down more than 63% this year.

So what

Monday's jump was an odd move, considering the company hasn't released any news since it announced, on Thursday, positive results from the company's phase 1/2 trial for INO-3107 to treat HPV 6 and HPV 11-associated recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) in adults. It's possible the market was just slow in reacting to that news and on an up day for the S&P 500 on Monday, just needed an excuse to push Inovio's shares higher.

There's also the chance the market is reacting to news that U.S. health authorities are pushing for COVID-19 booster shots. Inovio has nine therapies in its pipeline, including therapies to treat Ebola and prostate cancer, and a potential COVID-19 booster, INO-480.

It's also possible that an Ebola outbreak in Uganda might be driving the stock's rise, though the company's Ebola booster vaccine, INO-4201, is still in phase 1 trials.

Now what

It's important to remember that Inovio has very little income and no marketed drugs yet. It may be a good long-term choice, but there's plenty of risk there because of uncertainties. On top of that, the company, even with recent cutbacks, says it has enough cash to fund its operations only through the third quarter of 2024.

In the second quarter, the company reported revenue of $784,000, up from $273,000 for the same period in 2021. The company also reported a net loss of $108.5 million or $0.46 per share, compared to a loss of $82.1 million or $0.39 per share in the second quarter of 2021.