ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Shares Up 11% – Still a Buy?

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX)’s stock price shot up 11% on Monday . The company traded as high as $9.54 and last traded at $9.40. 26,495,297 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 39,633,914 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.47.

ImmunityBio News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting ImmunityBio this week:

• Positive Sentiment: China approval and guideline expansion broaden commercial reach — China approved an Anktiva combination for bladder cancer and the therapy was added to NCCN guidance for papillary-only NMIBC, expanding the addressable market across Asia and bringing total market approvals to ~34, supporting longer?term revenue potential. China approval article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst buy rating — D. Boral Capital issued a “Buy” on IBRX, which can help shore up investor confidence after the sell?off. Buy rating article
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts are downplaying the FDA letter — at least one analyst and coverage pieces suggest the warning may be manageable and not a clinical setback, which helps explain intraday buying after the drop. Analyst reaction article
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed coverage on valuation and guidance — several pieces are re?pricing IBRX after recent approvals and the marketing controversy; these are informational and may feed both buy and sell decisions. Valuation article
• Negative Sentiment: FDA warning letter over misleading Anktiva promotions prompted the initial crash — the FDA says a TV ad and podcast contained false or misleading efficacy/risk claims, which triggered investor concern about regulatory, reputational and commercial impact. FDA warning article
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law?firm investigations and potential securities actions — Kaplan Fox, Rosen Law Firm and Johnson Fistel are soliciting investors and investigating possible misstatements by the company and executives, increasing legal risk and potential liabilities. Kaplan Fox investigation Rosen Law Firm article Johnson Fistel article

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IBRX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price (up from $7.00) on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of ImmunityBio from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $13.00 price target on the stock. D. Boral Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.40.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.24 and a beta of -0.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.14.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $38.29 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ImmunityBio

In other ImmunityBio news, Director Christobel Selecky sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Barry J. Simon sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.01, for a total value of $900,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,850,821 shares in the company, valued at $34,238,360.21. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 501,967 shares of company stock worth $4,466,412 over the last three months. 69.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ImmunityBio

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IBRX. Slow Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in ImmunityBio in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in ImmunityBio during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of ImmunityBio in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 8.58% of the company’s stock.

ImmunityBio Company Profile

ImmunityBio, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of novel immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. The company’s research platform centers on harnessing the power of the human immune system—through engineered T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, cytokine superagonists and viral-vectored vaccines—to target and eliminate diseased cells across a range of indications.

Among its lead assets is Anktiva (formerly known as N-803), an interleukin-15 superagonist designed to stimulate NK and T cell activity.