Prelude Therapeutics Drops 3.3% on Quarterly Loss

Shares of Prelude Therapeutics Inc. (PRLD) dipped 3.3% after the clinical-stage precision oncology company reported a wider-than-expected loss for the third quarter of 2021.

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Results in Detail

The company incurred a loss of $0.66 per share against the Street’s loss estimate of $0.62 per share. It had reported a loss of $5.25 per share in the same quarter last year.

During the quarter, while general and administrative expenses more than doubled on a year-over-year basis and stood at $8.1 million, research and development expenses grew 48.4% to $22.7 million. (See Prelude Therapeutics stock charts on TipRanks)

As of September 30, 2021, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities stood at $320.9 million, which is expected to fund operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the second half of 2023.

Pipeline Update

The CEO of Prelude Therapeutics, Kris Vaddi, said, “We continue to make significant progress advancing our novel pipeline of therapeutic candidates, most notably with the recent presentation of dose escalation data from the Phase 1 trials of our lead PRMT5 inhibitors, PRT543 and PRT811. We were pleased by these initial data in unselected patients, which demonstrated key points of differentiation for our molecules, including good tolerability and potency, and a desirable therapeutic window. In addition, evidence of preliminary clinical activity was observed in multiple tumor types displaying preclinically validated genomic features.”

“We look forward to leveraging learnings from these data as we execute on the dose escalation portion of the trials and evaluate PRT543 and PRT811 in biomarker-selected patient populations, with data readouts from these cohorts anticipated in 2022. Beyond our PRMT5 inhibitors, the balance of our pipeline continues to advance. During the quarter we received IND clearance from the FDA for PRT2527, our CDK9 inhibitor, positioning us to commence a Phase 1 study of this molecule before year-end,” Vaddi added.

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Wall Street’s Take

Consensus among analysts is a Strong Buy based on 3 unanimous Buys. The average Prelude Therapeutics price target of $43.33 implies 167.47% upside potential from current levels.

Investors’ Holdings

TipRanks’ Stock Investors tool shows that investors currently have a Very Positive stance on Prelude Therapeutics with 124.3% of investors maintaining portfolios on TipRanks increasing their exposure to PRLD stock over the past 30 days.