LENZ Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LENZ) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.22 EPS

LENZ Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LENZ) issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.22), FiscalAI reports. LENZ Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 47.76% and a negative net margin of 519.30%.The company had revenue of $1.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 million.

Here are the key takeaways from LENZ Therapeutics’ conference call:

• LENZ reported approximately 25,000 paid/filled prescriptions in Q1, roughly 46,000 total monthly units since launch and $1.9M in net revenue (including $1.7M product sales), with over 10,000 unique prescribers—an early sign of commercial traction.
• Management acknowledged that new patient starts and routine ECP prescribing have been more gradual than expected and emphasized the need to accelerate adoption through physician behavior changes and improved patient onboarding.
• At a comparable launch stage, VIZZ is generating roughly 70% more scripts per prescriber than VUITY and about 60% of prescribing ECPs have written VIZZ multiple times, indicating stronger scripts-per-physician and early habit formation.
• Q1 SG&A totaled $45M (~$40.7M net of stock comp), net loss was $41.5M (~$1.32/sh), cash on hand was ~$258.4M with a Q1 burn of ~$34M, and R&D was effectively zero as spend shifts to commercial operations.
• After ~46,000 boxes (~1.2M doses) distributed, real-world safety shows 0 retinal detachments and 2 retinal tears (both with pre-existing risk factors), and management highlights aceclidine’s pupil-selective MOA as a potential safety differentiator versus competitors.

LENZ Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LENZ traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $7.84. 322,973 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 993,797. The stock has a market capitalization of $245.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.18 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $10.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.98. LENZ Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $6.83 and a 12 month high of $50.40.

Institutional Trading of LENZ Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of LENZ Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $198,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of LENZ Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $1,373,000. VARCOV Co. bought a new stake in shares of LENZ Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $1,261,000. Vestal Point Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of LENZ Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $4,400,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of LENZ Therapeutics by 879.3% during the fourth quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 37,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 33,827 shares during the last quarter. 54.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on LENZ. Weiss Ratings cut LENZ Therapeutics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Bank of America decreased their target price on LENZ Therapeutics from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen cut LENZ Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Citigroup decreased their target price on LENZ Therapeutics from $52.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright decreased their target price on LENZ Therapeutics from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.00.

About LENZ Therapeutics

LENZ Therapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies to improve vision in the United States. Its product candidates include LNZ100 and LNZ101 which are in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of presbyopia. The company is headquartered in Del Mar, California.