Bluebird Bio Shares Down 10%; Cantor Downgrades Stock To Sell

Cantor Fitzgerald wasn’t impressed by bluebird bio inc (NASDAQ: BLUE)’s investor day event on Thursday. Analyst Elemer Piros downgraded the stock to Sell following the event and doesn’t expect any new data from the company at the upcoming ASH conference in December.

According to Piros, the company’s focus on improved manufacturing methodology may mean the next meaningful data on LentiGlobin won’t become available until 2018.

“Since the shares are trading at a level not seen since last December, we think the lack of catalysts (since we don’t view ASH as a catalyst) for some time is likely to lead to selling pressure on the shares, and thus consistent with our change of rating to SELL from HOLD and lowering the TP to $37 from $42/share,” Piros explains.

Related Link: Tailwinds Continue To Hold The Street's Gaze Toward Bluebird Bio Aloft

The new process ups the number of transgenes introduced to stem cells and the number of cells transfected by up to three times previous levels. However, Piros notes that the increased transduction efficiency may not be enough to improve sickle cell outcomes.

In the long term, Bluebird’s more efficient process is good news for the company. However, Cantor has now pushed back its SCD launch target from 2020 to 2021. In the meantime, Piros sees no reason to buy the stock at its current price, up 32.3 percent in the past three months ahead of ASH.

Bluebird shares are tumbling 10 percent in Friday’s session.