Three Biotech Stocks With Buy Potential: Analyst Favorites at TipRanks

Biotech stocks disappointing YTD performance
TipRanks lists three industry favorites
Price potential of around 250 percent possible

Biotech stocks were among the most popular investments on the trading floor during the uncertainties of the corona pandemic. However, recently things haven’t been going well for all industry representatives on the financial market, as a look at the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index shows: Since the start of the year, the index has lost around 13 percent, even though there have recently been signs of recovery.

Yahoo! On the basis of the analyst rating tool TipRanks, Finance has identified three stocks from the biotech sector with strong potential, which experts believe have particularly high potential for price increases and which are rated “strong buy” by analysts on average.

Altimmune stock

Altimmune is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel peptide-based therapeutics for the treatment of obesity and liver disease.

The company’s leading product is called Pemvidutide and is intended to help reduce body weight and the associated comorbidities. A clinical phase 2 study on pemvidutide is scheduled to start this quarter, after 24 weeks – in the fourth quarter of 2022 – there should be an initial interim conclusion. Before that, data from a phase 1b is expected, from which JMP analyst Jonathan Wolleben is hoping for positive results. “New data coming in Q3 22 from a Phase 1b in NAFLD patients may continue to support a best-in-class profile for pemvidutide,” quoted Yahoo! Finance the analysts. The previous data on pemvidutide had already been convincing.

In view of the hopes for Altimmune’s top product candidates, Wolleben is also clearly bullish for Altimmune’s shares. He rates Altimmune as “outperform” and has a price target of $24. Given the current share price of 6.39 US dollars, shares of the biotech company still have an upside potential of around 275 percent. The average target price that analysts assign to Altimmune shares is even higher than Wolleben’s at 25 US dollars.

Adicet Bio Stocks

Adicet Bio has also made it to the top of the analyst recommendation list at TipRanks. The Company is engaged in the development of first-in-class, commercially available, allogeneic gamma delta T cell therapies for cancer and other diseases. Gamma-delta T cells are considered a starting point for cancer immunotherapy because they can locate and eliminate cancer cells in the body without attacking healthy cells.

Adicet Bio does not yet have a product candidate close to market launch, but an ongoing phase 1 study with the product hope ADI-001, which is to be used against non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, has already shown initial positive results. Adicet Bio intends to present further data in the first half of the year.

Adict Bio has caught the attention of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals with its second product, ADI-002. The biotechnology company has licensed the exclusive, worldwide rights to the product candidate.

Guggenheim analyst Michael Schmidt calls potential products from Adicet Bio an “intriguing new class of therapeutics in the field of adoptive cell therapy,” according to Yahoo! means finance. The company is well funded until 2023 and is trading at an extremely attractive valuation, the expert said.

He therefore rates Adicet Bio as “buy” and believes a potential price target of $22 is realistic. Shares in the company are currently trading for USD 17.20, so according to Schmidt the price still has room for almost 28 percent upwards. The Guggenheim analyst is thus even below the average price expectations for Adicet Bio shares, which are at 29.67 US dollars.

Seres Therapeutics stock

As the third analyst darling in the biotech space, Seres Therapeutics made the TipRanks list. The biotech company says it wants to revolutionize the treatment of a variety of diseases “by modulating the function of the human microbiome” and has a strong development pipeline in this area.

The group is currently working on two therapies to treat ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, a phase 1b study is ongoing with the drug SER-155, which is being evaluated for reducing the incidence of infection and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) in immunocompromised patients.

However, Seres’ greatest hope is SER-109, which is indicated for the treatment of recurrent C. difficile infections (CDI). Here, Seres is already one step closer to launching the product; they are currently working on the documents for an application for full approval of the active ingredient with the US Food and Drug Administration, FDA.

Reason enough for analyst HC Vernon Bernardino of Wainwright to be confident: “We believe that there is significant commercial opportunity for SER-109 given that there are approximately 170,000 cases of rCDI in the US and CDI causes over 20,000 deaths annually. Also It costs approximately $34,000 annually to treat one patient with rCDI […]. Overall, we expect approval of SER-109 in Q1 23 []”, the expert is quoted as saying at Yahoo! Finance.

Bernardino also rates the prospects for the Seres Therapeutics stock as positive: he recommends buying the stock and assigns a price target of 25 US dollars. With the current share price of $7.17, there would be upside potential for Seres Therapeutics stock of almost 180 percent. This makes the analyst one of the most confident observers of the share – according to TipRanks, the average price target is 18 US dollars.

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