March 10, 2025 7:31am

It's been a brutal start to March as the cell and gene therapy sector fumbled and stumbled with market reverses and fear over econ releases. Is now the time to take advantage of lower valuations? Yes, very selectively!

Tariff turbulence could continue this week, with a heavy dose of inflation oriented economic data adding to the list of potential market-moving events

Pre-open Indications: 1 Negative and 3 Positive Indications

News: Beam Therapeutics (BEAM +$3.52 or +12.36% to $32.00 pre-open) announced an offering of 16,151,686 shares priced at $28.48 per share, including pre-funded warrants to purchase 1,404,988 shares of common stock at an offering price of $28.47 per pre-funded warrant with an exercise price of $0.01 per share. Gross proceeds from the offering are expected to be approximately $500 M expected to close on or about 3/11/2525

No false narratives or fake news; to read insights and analysis on the latest sector action, check out Pre-Open Brief …

Never leave an investor uninform

Remember that overnight and pre-open actions’ futures and markets doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in today’s market session.

My interpretation of the morning’s numbers is written to be informative; it’s built on what happened to make “it” happen today!

 

Friday’s night’s … RegMed Investors (RMi) Closing Bell: a dine and dash week ending … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/13831

Beam Therapeutics (BEAM) an offering of 16,151,686 shares priced at $28.48 per share … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/13832

 

Monday: The pre-open Dow futures are DOWN -0.94% or (-402 points), the S&P futures are DOWN -1.10% or (-63 points) and the Nasdaq futures are DOWN -1.22% or (-248 points)

  • Stock futures dived on Monday, 3/10
  • European markets were trading lower,
  • Asia-Pacific markets were mixed.

Henry’omics: We need to more than consider the economic environment to comprehend the micro re “our” universe of cell and gene therapy companies

Friday saw volatile trading as the S&P rose 0.55%, the Nasdaq gained 0.7% and the Dow added 0.52%.

Despite Friday’s recovery, the S&P 500 notched its worst week since September with a loss of 3.1%, the Dow, meanwhile, fell 2.4% and the Nasdaq slid 3.5% on the week.

Economic Data Docket: None

  • Although, volatility continues in the week, with additional doses of economic data adding to the list of potential market-moving events.

 

Q1/25:  March sessions with 1 positive and 4 negative closes

  • February – 1 holiday, 11 negative and 8 positive closes
  • January – 2 holidays, 1 market close, 10 negative and 10 positive closes

Q4/24:

  • December 1 holiday, 15 negative and 5 positive closes
  • November 10 negative and 9 positive closes
  • October: 8 positive and 15 negative closes

 

Companies in my headlights – It’s your decision; I provide ideas and context

I post about “indication intelligence” looking toward investment conferences … to assist investors with insight into sector vulnerabilities and strengths.

A dictionary definition of “indicate” refers to something less than a certainty; an indication could be a signal of being oversold or overbought, a recommendation, or grounds for inferring or a basis for believing.

Pre-Open indications: a chutes and ladder’s approach …

Negative:

  • Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) closed down -$0.58 after Thursday’s +$0.64, Wednesday’s +$0.80, Tuesday’s +$0.35, last Monday’s -0.59 and the previous Friday’s +$1.84 with a negative -$0.31 or -0.92%

Positive:

  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) closed down -$3.61 after Thursday’s -$1.10, Wednesday’s +$6.30, Tuesday’s -$0.60 and Monday’s -$3.22 with a positive +$1.48 or +0.61%
  • BioLife Solutions (BLFS) closed down -$0.97 after Thursday’s +$0.55, Wednesday’s +$1.41, Tuesday’s +$0.33, Monday’s +$0.51 with a positive +$0.38 or +1.47%

 

The BOTTOM LINE: the new month, March continues … NOT much has changed – diving market, as I have written, “uncle algo and his trading dwarfs” determine the heights or lows of share pricing”

March to date: 1 Positive and 3 Negative closes

  • 3/8 – Friday closed negative with 14 positive, 17 negative and 4 flats
  • 3/6 – Thursday closed negative with 16 positive, 18 negative and 1 flat
  • 3/5 – Wednesday closed positive with 25 positive, 9 negative and 1 flat
  • 3 /4 – Tuesday closed negative with 15 positive, 18 negative and 2 flats
  • 3/3 – Monday closed negative with 2 positive, 31 negative and 2 flats

Reiterating, “I think it's important just to take a step back, focus on the fundamentals, be selective. I mean, this has definitely been a “sucky” January and February from a stock-picker standpoint given the up/downs. And so, I am relatively neutral across today/Friday’s equity strategy.

  • Reiterating, “Take the emotion out of the sector, think of the reality of the “plays” that exist of who’s really buying.”

It’s STILL earnings season “sparking” a quarterly life crisis…

  • Cell and Gene therapy earnings continue to be important; LPS (loss per share), revenue uplifts and lags, clinical progress with some program uncertainty, a dearth all followed by estimate misses
  • The coming batch of quarterly earnings will provide last years, FY2024’s LPS (loss-per-share), some EPS, consensus meets and non-greets, cash positions, runways and partner status for investors

Earnings are here … from Q4/24 and FY24 … my view will follow, has been busy and personally eventful!

  • Agenus (AGEN) – Tuesday, 3/11
  • Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR) - Tuesday, 3/11
  • Cellectis SA (CLLS) – Thursday, 3/13
  • Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO), Monday, 3/17

Think about it; one of the biggest problems with the cell and gene therapy sector’s share pricing is …  99% of them have no earnings! If rates are higher for longer, that means that sector companies will continue to struggle or be unable to raise capital and therefore be subject.

Welcome to my world of defining the “grey’ in our universe!

  • The sector is what it is, until it isn’t and even then, it doesn’t seem to be… as NOT much changes as the sector’s share pricing rides the waves of volatility, algorithms, electronic trading and short covering.
  • I am more frequently right than consequentially wrong; if I wanted to be liked, I wouldn’t have been an analyst/journalist.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change, and not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice. All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.

Whether information or intelligence is good, bad or somewhere in between; I put into context what is relevant and useful for investors.  All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.  Regulation Analyst Certification (Reg AC): The research analyst primarily responsible for the content of this report certifies the following under Reg AC: I hereby certify that all views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject company or companies and it’s or their securities. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.

Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors could hold or have positions securities referred to in this publication and he will NOTIFY investors of holdings.