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Investing.com - H.C. Wainwright lowered its price target on Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTLA) to $25.00 from $30.00 on Tuesday, while maintaining a Buy rating on the gene-editing company’s stock. According to InvestingPro data, the company currently has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, with analyst price targets ranging from $8 to $106, reflecting the market’s mixed outlook on this volatile biotech stock.
The price target reduction follows Intellia’s decision to pause dosing in its Phase 3 trials of Nex-Z for ATTR after a second liver event was reported. This news triggered a steep 50% decline in NTLA shares on Monday, compared to a 2% gain in the XBI biotech index. InvestingPro analysis shows the stock’s high volatility, with a beta of 2.38, indicating more pronounced price swings than the broader market. Despite recent turbulence, the company maintains strong financial health with a current ratio of 5.19, suggesting ample liquidity to weather near-term challenges.
The affected patient, described as being in their early 80s with a high BMI, met Hy’s Law thresholds for liver injury and was hospitalized for observation but remains stable. This follows a previous Grade 4 event in May that resolved without symptoms or intervention.
H.C. Wainwright noted that these two cases among more than 450 patients have raised concerns about a potential pattern, though current evidence suggests these may be isolated, patient-specific signals.
The firm’s revised $25 price target reflects that approximately half of its valuation is based on Intellia’s HAE program, which is risk-adjusted at 60%, while the current stock price implies virtually no value for either the ATTR-CM or ATTR-PN programs. Based on comprehensive InvestingPro analysis, which includes over 30 financial metrics and real-time valuation models, Intellia appears undervalued at current levels. Subscribers can access the full Pro Research Report for detailed insights into the company’s financial health, growth prospects, and fair value estimates.
In other recent news, Intellia Therapeutics has paused its Phase III MAGNITUDE and MAGNITUDE-2 studies due to a safety event involving a patient in the ATTR-CM MAGNITUDE clinical trial. The patient, an 80-year-old who received the nex-z treatment, was hospitalized with abdominal pain and elevated liver enzyme levels, leading to a protocol-specified pause in the study. This incident has raised concerns about the safety of the treatment, prompting several analysts to reevaluate their positions on the company. William Blair downgraded Intellia from Outperform to Market Perform, while RBC Capital also downgraded the stock from Outperform to Sector Perform and reduced its price target to $14.00. Similarly, Bernstein downgraded Intellia to Market Perform, citing safety concerns, although it slightly raised its price target to $14.50. Citizens maintained a Market Outperform rating but lowered its price target to $29.00, reflecting the broader concerns about the gene editing sector. These developments have brought significant attention to Intellia’s ongoing clinical trials and their potential implications.
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