Stifel reiterates Crescent Biopharma stock rating on pipeline progress

Investing.com reports that Stifel maintains a Buy rating for Crescent Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ: CBIO) with a price target of $28.00 after receiving an update on the company's pipeline. The stock, currently trading at $12.48, shows significant upside potential despite a 16% decline over the past week. Stifel highlighted the completion of ASCEND trial's dose-escalation phase, involving over 125 patients, and the initiation of CR-001 expansion cohorts testing chemotherapy-based combinations for various solid tumor types.

Crescent Biopharma anticipates dosing more than 2,000 patients across its portfolio by mid-fiscal year 2027, including patients from CR-001-treated ASCEND trials, CR-002-treated APOLLO trials, and more than 700 CR-003-treated patients through a partnership with Kelun. The company's fully-diluted enterprise value remains below $500 million.

InvestingPro analysts deem the stock slightly overvalued relative to its Fair Value estimate. Crescent Biopharma recently completed a public offering raising around $143.7 million, with 9.3 million ordinary shares sold at $14.50 each. H.C. Wainwright upgraded the stock rating to Buy from Neutral, citing an attractive risk-reward profile and potential value in Crescent's antibody-drug conjugate pipeline.