Arguably the most impressive mover yesterday was a stock you have probably never heard of. Shares of Eloxx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ELOX) rocketed almost 100% yesterday after receiving an increased price target from Oppenheimer. The increased price target follows Monday's announced publication, detailing the preclinical data demonstrating activity for ZKN-157 against subtypes of colorectal cancer.
About Eloxx Pharmaceuticals
Eloxx is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on developing ribosome modulation to treat rare and ultra-rare premature stop codon diseases. Eloxx's pipeline currently consists of six candidates. The company's lead candidate, ELX-02, is now in Phase 2 and aims to treat cystic fibrosis and nephropathic cystinosis patients with diagnosed nonsense mutations. The company was founded in 2013 and headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.
ELOX has 2.1 million shares outstanding and a free float of 1.7 million. At the time of writing this, the market cap of ELOX is $19.3 million.
Why Shares Soared Higher
Oppenheimer announced a price target increase for ELOX, raising its price target from $50 to $55 and maintaining its Outperform rating on the stock. The price target implies a staggering potential upside of almost 500%.
On Monday, a publication titled "A Novel Class of Ribosome Modulating Agents Exploits Cancer Ribosome Heterogeneity to Selectively Target the CMS2 Subtype of Colorectal Cancer" was published in Cancer Research Communications. The publication showed the potential of the company's TUBRO-ZM chemistry technology platforms to develop novel Ribosome Modulating Agents and details preclinical data that demonstrate activity for ZKN-157 against subtypes of colorectal cancer.
As a result of the publication on Monday and the price target increase on Tuesday, shares soared close to 100% by the close of Tuesday.
ELOX Rockets Higher
The daily chart represents the risks associated with trading or investing in a small-cap stock with a micro float. The range between support and resistance is significant and a direct result of the micro float of the stock. Due to the size of the float and the absence of volume, the historical range and volatility have been significant. The stock has a Beta of 2.54 and an average volume of 1 million. YTD, the stock is up 316%.
While higher time frame support is near $4, the stock spent significant time consolidating near $8 on Tuesday. So from now on, $8 will be a critical short-term level of support, and bulls should not want to see the stock spend much time below that level.
The Company Needs To Raise Cash
As with many small-cap, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companies, sufficient operating capital poses a significant challenge. Eloxx has a quarterly cash burn of ($6.81) million; as of March 31, the company had only $4.3 million in cash. Therefore, the company is likely to be cash-negative right now and will need to raise in the near term, which will likely have a negative impact on the stock's share price.
