Editas Medicine, Inc.


EDIT

delivered earnings of 12 cents per share in the third quarter of 2020, reversing the year-ago quarter’s loss of 66 cents. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was of a loss of 66 cents per share.

Collaboration, and other research and development revenues comprising the company’s top line came in at $62.8 million in the reported quarter, substantially up from the year-ago quarter’s $4 million. The top line also comprehensively beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7 million.

On the third-quarter conference call, management stated that the surge in revenues was owing to recognition of the remaining deferred revenue as a result of terminating the Allergan collaboration.

We note that in August 2020, Editas terminated its 2017 agreement with Allergan [now part of

AbbVie


ABBV

and regained the full global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize its ocular medicines including the lead pipeline candidate EDIT-101.

In the third quarter, research and development expenses were $33.9 million, up 49.3% from the year-ago figure due to increased expenses related to the development of EDIT-101. General and administrative expenses increased 26.7% to $19.9 million owing to higher professional service expenses and personnel costs.

Shares of Editas were up 3% in after-hours trading following the earnings release on Thursday. In fact, the stock has rallied 6.6% in the year so far against the

industry’s

decrease of 1.1%.

Pipeline & Other Updates

Editas has no approved product in its portfolio at the moment. Therefore, its pipeline development remains in key focus for the company.

EDIT-101, which uses CRISPR gene editing technology, is being developed for treating Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 (LCA10), a rare genetic illness that causes blindness.

The company completed dosing the first cohort of the phase I/II BRILLIANCE study, which is evaluating EDIT-101 for LCA10.

Meanwhile, Editas initiated its investigational new drug (IND)-enabling activities for EDIT-301, an experimental CRISPR medicine, developed to treat sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta-thalassemia by editing the beta-globin locus. It plans to file the IND for EDIT-301 in the fourth quarter of 2020 for the SCD indication. The FDA granted Rare Pediatric Disease (RPD) designation to EDIT-301 for SCD in August 2020.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Editas currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector include

Fulcrum Therapeutics, Inc.


FULC

and

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.


HALO

, both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see


the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here


.

Fulcrum Therapeutics’ loss per share estimates have narrowed 1.1% for 2020 and 0.9% for 2021 over the past 60 days.

Halozyme’s earnings estimates have been revised 19.7% and 13.7% upward for 2020 and 2021 each over the past 60 days. The stock has rallied 85.7% year to date.

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