Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (RNA) shares ended the last trading session 42.4% higher at $70. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 14.4% gain over the past four weeks.
The stock rallied after Avidity announced that Novartis has agreed to acquire Avidity in a deal valued at up to $72.00 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of approximately $12 billion. The transaction is expected to be closed in the first half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. Novartis will acquire Avidity's programs and pipeline in neuroscience and gain access to its differentiated RNA-targeting delivery platform. Meanwhile, Avidity expects to separate its early-stage precision cardiology programs into a new publicly traded company known as SpinCo.
This company is expected to post quarterly loss of $1.09 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -67.7%. Revenues are expected to be $2.5 million, up 6.8% from the year-ago quarter.
Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.
For Avidity Biosciences, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on RNA going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Avidity Biosciences is a member of the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. One other stock in the same industry, Exact Sciences (EXAS), finished the last trading session 1.8% lower at $63.5. EXAS has returned 20.7% over the past month.
For Exact Sciences, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed +9.8% over the past month to $0.1. This represents a change of +147.6% from what the company reported a year ago. Exact Sciences currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
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Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (RNA): Free Stock Analysis Report Exact Sciences Corporation (EXAS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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