Dallas, Texas 10/11/2013 (Financialstrend) – In September, Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) stock scripted a major rally which took its market value up by 76% in the span of 30 days. It has shed close to 14% in the past week of trading. The drop in the stock can be traced back to its October 1 announcement. The company had completed the hiving off process of its “human embryo stem cell” practice to Asterias Biotherapeutics. Asterias is a 100% owned subsidiary of BioTime, Inc. This deal was originally announced in January of this year.
In exchange of Geron’s human embryo stem cell practice, Aserias has allotted Geron 6.53 million Seriers A common stock. Geron will in turn allot these series A preferred stock on a pro rata basis to its existing share holders. Investors of Geron should be aware that Asterias is a development stage the start-up and not initiated any testing cycles of new drugs as of date.
As of 2:00 PM ET on October 10, the share price of the stock had appreciated by 2.74% and had hit the $3 per share mark. This price translated to a 229% increase in value from its 52 week low pricing and is down 24% from its 52 week high valuations. Through the day’s trading on October 10, the stock had seen a total of 1.68 million shares change hands in comparison to a daily average of 1.36 million. The biotech firm has a market cap of $374 million and has a total of $128 million shares outstanding. In the past 12 months trailing period, it has recorded a net loss of $52 million and total sales turnover of $2.2 million. Investors who bought into the drug maker 6 months back would have seen their investment go up by 151%. Analysts believe that the stock has the potential to reach $4 target price over the next six months.