Beam Therapeutics upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Leerink

Leerink upgraded Beam Therapeutics (BEAM) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $39, up from $27. The firm notes that prior to Tuesday’s BEAM-101 data in sickle-cell disease, risk of a safety signal kept Leerink on the sidelines. Following disclosure of a patient death, shares opened down over 10%, but recovered over the day, as focus shifted to BEAM-301 data in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, where the firm sees a far more attractive risk/reward. Leerink takes this opportunity to step back in positively after a period of uninspiring stock performance given strong product/market-fit for in vivo single-point mutation base editing in AATD, and potential to address both lung and liver manifestations.