Earnings season is winding down, with most companies already having reported their quarterly results. But there are still some companies left to report, and Geron (GERN +2.60%) is about to release its quarterly earnings. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarterly reports is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.
Geron is arguably best known not for what it did do but what it didn't do. Having originally been involved in stem-cell research, Geron decided to give up on the promising but controversial area. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Geron over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report on Tuesday.
Stats on Geron
|
Analyst EPS Estimate |
($0.14) |
|
Year-Ago EPS |
($0.19) |
|
Revenue Estimate |
$500,000 |
|
Change From Year-Ago Revenue |
99% |
|
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters |
3 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
What's been happening with Geron this quarter?
Analysts haven't changed their estimates on Geron one bit, given that the company has so little revenue coming in and has relatively predictable expenses. The stock has risen nearly 40% since early December, but that's been only a short respite from much longer-term declines over the years.
Geron drew a lot of attention when it decided in 2011 to stop its stem-cell research. Since then, it has struggled to find a buyer for its stem-cell assets, and in January, Geron finally accepted a deal in which tiny biotech BioTime (NYSEMKT: BTX) offered to contribute $35 million in cash and stock to a subsidiary in exchange for a 79% stake, leaving Geron shareholders with the other 21%. Given the challenges that StemCells (STEM +0.48%) has had in moving forward with stem-cell products, it's hard to fault Geron for giving up on the difficult area.
But Geron's attempts to move in other directions haven't been very successful. Back in September, the company cancelled a clinical trial looking at its imetelstat treatment for breast cancer, and it chose not to put the drug into a trial for treating non-small-cell lung cancer either. Moreover, in December, the company announced a failure with its GRN1005 prospect, which didn't produce the desired effect against brain metastases in breast-cancer patients.
In Geron's quarterly report, it needs to elaborate more on the successful data it reported back in December for imetelstat's impact on a blood disorder called essential thrombocythemia. Although the indication obviously isn't as high-status as breast cancer, it could still support what could become much greater revenue for Geron in the long run.
Click here to add Geron to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.
