What happened
Shares of Geron Corporation (GERN 1.51%) were soaring 15% higher as of 12:04 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The big gain came after the company provided its first-quarter update following the market close on Monday.
Geron reported Q1 revenue of $123,000. It posted a net loss of $30.1 million, or $0.09 per share. This result beat the consensus estimate of a net loss of $0.10 per share.
Investors were perhaps most encouraged by Geron's cash position. The company ended the first quarter with $178.0 million in cash and marketable securities. This amount was boosted by around $70 million in April after Geron conducted a public stock offering.
So what
Financial results often don't matter all that much for clinical-stage biotech stocks like Geron. However, how much cash the companies have is important.
Without cash, biotechs can't advance their pipeline programs. That shouldn't be a problem for Geron, though. The company believes that its cash stockpile, combined with future proceeds of up to $124.3 million from exercising outstanding warrants, will be enough to fund operations through the end of 2023.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
The most important things to watch with Geron are two in-progress clinical studies. Geron expects to report top-line results from its IMerge phase 3 study evaluating imetelstat in treating lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes in early January 2023. The company is also expanding its phase 3 IMpactMF study of the drug in treating refractory myelofibrosis with an interim analysis anticipated in 2024.
