August 12, 2025 4:26pm

Digesting the newest inflation data which held steady at 2.7% in July

Earnings: Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM) <se The Bottom line>

  • Q2 results so far:  4 net incomes and 20 net losses of 24 releases to date

The thing about trading stocks is everyone has an opinion. There is a distinct difference between investing with indication intelligence and/or guidance to understand potential risks and reward.

Never leave an investor uninformed! 

 

The process of analyzing and the gathering data list a company for investment decision-making purposes whether short, near or long-term can be endless. Fundamental, absolute, incremental, sensitivity, qualitative, qualitative layered with comparable cross-sectional analysis measures valuation and share price positioning

Let’s get to the point, few adverbs and even fewer adjectives, no vacillating; I get right to the point, telling investors what has meaning and why news or indications matter.

 

Tuesday’s RegMed Investors’ (RMi) pre-open: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde might make for a great read … BREAKING … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/14058

RegMed Investors (RMi) Financing Note: Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM) $10 M PIPE priced at $2.24 … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/14059

RegMed Investors (RMi) Research Note: Harvard Apparatus GT (OTCQB): Navigating the next re-calibration, yet another "Exempt Offering of Securities" … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/13812

 

Tuesday: The Dow closed UP +483.52 points or +1.10%, the S&P closed UP +72.31 points or +1.13% while the Nasdaq closed UP +296.50 points or +1.39%

  • Theme of the session, a light U.S. inflation report

Henry’omics: We need to more than consider the economic environment - rising rates and inflation to comprehend the micro re “our” universe of cell and gene therapy

  • Consumer prices (CPI) increased moderately in July, in line with expectations, though rising costs for goods because of import tariffs led to a measure of underlying inflation posting its largest gain in 6 months. CPI rose 0.2% last month after gaining 0.3% in June. In the 12 months through July, the CPI advanced 2.7% after rising 2.7% in June. Economists had forecast the CPI rising 0.2% and increasing 2.8% year-on-year. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI rose 0.3%, the biggest gain since January, after climbing 0.2% in June. Core CPI increased 3.1% year-on-year in July after advancing 2.9% in June.

Tuesday’s advance/decline line opened positive with 30 incliners, 4 decliners and 1 flat ending with a positive close of 28 incliners, 6 decliners and 1 flat

Metrics:  Tuesday, the IBB was up +2.26%, the XBI was up +1.77% while the VIX was down -1.46 points or -8.98% at 14.79

 

Q3 – August – 6 negative and 2 positive closes

  • July – 1 market holiday, 13 positive and 9 negative closes

Q2/25: June – 1 market holiday, 1 neutral, 9 negative and 11 positive closes, May – 1 market holiday, 10 negative and 11 positive closes and April – 11 positive and 10 negative closes

 

Tuesday Closing UP (10 of 28) 

  • IQVIA Holdings (IQV +$5.90 after Monday’s +$0.28),
  • BioNTech (BNTX +$1.74 after Monday’s -$2.40),
  • BioLife Solutions (BLFS +$1.69),
  • CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP +$1.19 after Monday’s +$0.41),
  • Vericel (VCEL +$1.11 after Monday’s -$0.81),
  • Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT +$0.86 after Monday’s -$0.33),
  • Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals (RARE +$0.72),
  • Supernus Pharmaceuticals (SUPN +$0.67 after Monday’s -$0.66),
  • Regenxbio RGNX +$0.64 after Monday’s -$0.39),
  • Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS +$0.57 after Monday’s -$0.80),

Flat (1)

  • Harvard Apparatus RT (OTCQB: HRGN)

Tuesday’s Closing DOWN (6 of 6): 

  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY -$5.07 after Monday’s -$3.93),
  • Lenz Therapeutics (LENZ -$2.44 after Monday’s +$4.09),
  • Beam Therapeutics (BEAM -$0.31 after Monday’s -$0.45),
  • Compass Therapeutics (CMPX -$0.17 after Monday’s +$0.64),
  • Prime Medicine (PRME -$0.05),
  • Solid Biosciences (SLDB -$0.03),

 

The BOTTOM LINE:  Indexes “rolled” rising Tuesday as investors breathed a sigh of relief that a tamer-than-expected inflation report might give the Fed to “green light” cutting interest rates next month, September.

  • Small caps, seen as a big beneficiary of lower short-term borrowing rates, led the rally with the Russell 2000 up +2% while the S&P 500 popped +0.7%.
  • Today’s moves come as traders weigh the latest developments on the tariff front. President Trump said Monday he’d extend a 90-day pause on higher levies on Chinese goods.
  • Thursday’s producer price index report will provide a reading on wholesale inflation.
  • Ahead of the Fed’s Jackson Hole gathering at the end of August, ahead of the central bank’s September policy meeting. <CNBC>

 

Today’s bad:  NextRNA Therapeutics, announced the decision to shut down NextRNA over the weekend winding down its operations and laying off employees. NextRNA was founded in 2021 with a new perspective on long non-coding RNAs and their role in diseases.

  • Long non-coding RNAs, or lncRNAs, do not produce proteins, and for a while people thought they didn't have a specific function. But more recently it has been shown that dysregulated lncRNAs can lead to diseases by recruiting RNA-binding proteins to drive pathological processes.
  • CEO Verhelle said the NextRNA team was delayed in meeting a scientific milestone in its collaboration with Bayer. Given the tough economic environment, the delay presented a financial challenge to NextRNA.
  • NextRNA Therapeutics needs additional time and money to extend its runway in order to reach it. In these challenging market conditions, they are not able to fill the gap created by this scientific delay, and we decided that the best course of action for employees and shareholders was to wind down the company’s operations.
  • 27 employees were laid off, with the exception of the leadership team, who will be under a consulting agreement with Bayer to continue advancing the collaboration programs.

 

My perspective is retail investors should roll-the-dice with econ readings as earnings season kicks-in and momentum wains in the cell and gene therapy sector.

  • NO all ins as historically “our” universe slips and slides as the “season’ resumes; so, hang-in with those with solid partners, lengthened runways and solid cash positions leveraged by solid/stable management teams!

This week, investors will assess a fresh inflation print in the lead-up to the Fed's Jackson Hole symposium.

  • Optimism over a September Fed rate cut has grown since last week's poor labor market data release. Trump's nomination of Miran to serve as a Fed board governor has also fueled speculation that the central bank will be less restrictive in its monetary policy.

The summer doldrums and the earnings release cycle have … led to cell and gene therapy sector pullbacks in July and August with hope for an upcoming rise in September.

  • Investors are squirming through this depreciation but should bask in an upcoming rally and should be focused on buying these dips and not sell the rips to play catch-up…
  • Botton line, once earnings season abates, cell and gene therapy equities will be due for gains over the coming months, as they face a 2-prong seasonally weak period.

 

Reiterating, the market is … also bracing for a historically weak month … August is the worst month for the Dow in data going back to 1988, and the 2nd worst for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

  • Investors should buckle up as August and September roll around, according to Canaccord Genuity pointing to the historical underperformance of the 2 months — particularly September, known as “The September Effect.”
  • “Going back to 1957, the S&P 500 in September has been down on average -0.74% and has shown positive performance only 43% of the time. August on its own is marginally better with an average return of ~0.20%, and Aug-Sep taken together is the worst-performing 2-month sequential combination on the calendar,” the bank wrote.

 

Welcome to my world of defining the “grey’ in our universe!

  • Right up front, “I also hate to be so negative or contrarian but, this is a NO spin zone and facts are its product; I can always be WRONG but … I am mostly EARLY!”

 

Earnings today:

Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM) a net loss of -$49.2 M or -$2.34 per share, zero ($0) revenue, a cash position of $44.4 M with a $10 M PIPE closing 8/11 and a runway until 2026

Earnings yesterday:

Compass Therapeutics (CMPX) a net loss of -$19.9 M or -$0.14 per share, zero (0) revenue, a cash position of $9.5 M with $91 M due from Kydus transaction in Q3/25 and an upcoming runway until 2027

Agenus (AGEN) a net loss of -$30 M or -$1.00 per share, revenue of $25.7 M, a cash position of $38.3 M with a runway until Q4/25

 

More earnings are a’comin: Thursday - Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (BCLI)

 

August begins as July ends: understand the “flow” …

  • 8/12 - Tuesday closed positive with 28 positive, 6 negative and 1 flat
  • 8/11 – Monday closed negative with 10 positive, 25 negative and 0 flat
  • 8/8 – Friday closed negative with 11 positive, 23 negative and 1 flat
  • 8/7 – Thursday closed negative with 9 positive, 24 negative and 2 flats
  • 8/6 - Wednesday closed negative with 11 positive, 22 negative and 2 flats
  • 8/5 – Tuesday closed negative with 15 positive, 19 negative and 1 flat
  • 8/4 – Monday closed positive with 27 positive, 8 negative and 0 flat
  • 8/1 – Friday closed negative with 9 positive, 20 negative and 6 flats

 

“I hate to be so negative or contrarian but, this is a NO spin zone and truth is its product; I can always be WRONG but, I am mostly EARLY!”

  • If I have learned one thing as a former research analyst in a venture and public fund, operating executive, x-FBI, x-military officer and an adjunct (MBA) business school professor now a journalist; my life and your portfolio are largely tied to knowledge of price movements and questioning pricing targets and more.
  • I was once told by a “very” prominent figure early in my career, “write it right, keep it tight without hype and never lose the stride to guide the reader” – they were pretty simple instructions to follow!

 

Why do I keep repeating, so investors can make the connection …

The top three (3) performing in the session:   

  • Tuesday: IQVIA Holdings (IQV), BioLife Solutions (BLFS) and BioNTech (BNTX)
  • Monday: Lenz Pharmaceuticals (LENZ), uniQure NV (QURE) and Compass Therapeutics (CMPX)
  • Friday: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Lenz Pharmaceuticals (LENZ) and BioLife Solutions (BLFS)

The worst three (3) in the session: 

  • Tuesday: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Lenz Pharmaceuticals (LENZ) and Beam therapeutics (BEAM)
  • Monday: BioNTech (BNTX), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) and Vericel (VCEL)
  • Friday: Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA), CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) and Moderna (MRNA)

 

Opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change, and not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice. Whether information or intelligence is good, bad, or somewhere in between; I put into context what is relevant and useful for investors.  All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.

Henry McCusker, the editor, and publisher of RegMed Investors does not hold or have positions in securities referred to in this publication. Regulation Analyst Certification (Reg AC): The research analyst primarily responsible for the content of this report certifies the following under Reg AC: I hereby certify that all views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject company or companies and it’s or their securities.

I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.