What happened
Shares of Xencor (XNCR -0.63%) rose 12.6% this week as of Thursday afternoon, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The stock closed at $28.83 on Friday and then rose as high as $33.06 on Thursday. Xencor stock was up as high as 14.7% for the week before falling a bit later in the day Thursday.
The stock is up more than 1.8% over the past 12 months and up more than 24% so far this year. Xencor has seen a 52-week low of $19.36 and a 52-week high of $35.92.
So what
The healthcare company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that specializes in engineered monoclonal antibody and cytokine therapies to treat cancer and autoimmune disorders. It didn't have any major announcements this week, but it has been on the upswing in general since it provided a corporate presentation on Jan. 11. The company has more than 20 programs in its Xencor XmAb pipeline and three therapies that have been marketed by Xencor collaborators.
Xencor is also coming off a promising third-quarter earnings report on Nov. 7, where it reported revenue of $27.3 million, up 38.5% year over year. Most of the revenue came from royalty payments from Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Vir Biotechnology.
The company appears to be making progress toward profitability, as it lost $32.8 million, or $0.55 in earnings per share (EPS), compared to a loss of $40.2 million, or $0.69 in EPS loss, in the same period a year ago.
Now what
Investors will want to see how well Vudalimab, the therapy that is furthest along in its pipeline, does in phase 3 trials. It is being examined as a monotherapy and combination therapy to treat metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and gynecological tumors. The company said it expects to have between $575 million and $600 million in cash through the end of 2022, enough to fund its operations through 2025.
