Scotiabank would buy Kura on weakness despite KOMET-001 uncertainty

Scotiabank analyst George Farmer thinks the positive clinical and regulatory updates reported by Kura Oncology (KURA) last night for the ziftomenib development program “were unfortunately obfuscated by a poor management communication strategy and negative sentiment going into this binary event.” Investors would have been better served if management had just guided to a Q2 top-line report and said nothing about this study until release of abstracts in May, the analyst tells investors in a research note. However, Scotiabank believes the “bullish comments,” including the achievement of the primary endpoint and positive communication with FDA, indicate the results could be competitive with what was reported with Syndax’s (SNDX) revumenib. It keeps a Sector Perform rating on Kura but would be “opportunistic buyers on weakness given a nominal stock enterprise value.” Kura Oncology in premarket trading is down 13%, or $1.21, to $7.84.