What happened
Shares of Quantum-Si Incorporated (QSI 2.48%) were up more than 8% as of 3:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. Increased institutional buying of the medical device maker's stock drove the stock up as much as 12.7% earlier in the day. The company, which makes devices for protein sequencing, has seen its stock climb more than 40% so far this year.
So what
Quantum-Si focuses on medical equipment for for proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins. The company's platform helps simplify next-generation single-molecule protein sequencing to improve drug discovery and diagnostics. On Wednesday, Cathie Wood's Ark Genomic Revolution ETF picked up 20,742 shares of Quantum-Si, the fourth time since June 27 that the ETF has added to its Quantum-Si position. Retail investors, seeing the move, bought the stock as well.
Now what
The stock has risen steadily since hitting a 52-week low of $1.36 on May 15. The company still has a long way from being profitable. It reported it had $322 million in cash as of the first quarter, enough to fund operations into 2026. Quantum-Si just started making revenue, reporting $254,000 in first-quarter sales from the $449,000 it has in orders of its Platinum single-molecule protein sequencing platform. The device wasn't launched until late December. The company also reported a $23.6 million loss in the first quarter.
Biotech companies are increasingly targeting specific protein enzymes to treat diseases and Quantum-Si has said it is targeting an $8-billion-a-year initial opportunity in sales. Investors will want to see how well the company's next scheduled launch does, however. Quantum-Si said beta testing of its universal cartridge based sample prep Carbon platform is scheduled to start this quarter, with its launch scheduled for the second half of the year.
