Progenity Inc (NASDAQ: PROG) stock price is up 62.9%, driven partly by positive investor sentiment and the recent award of four patents to the company by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, the biotech company announced that it had been awarded four patents covering various technologies and treatments developed by the company.
However, you should remember that PROG shares had been rising for a while before the patent awards and are currently up 133.51% over the past month.
The firm’s initial rally was driven by retail investors on social media platforms such as Reddit, Discord and StockTwits encouraging each other to buy its shares and create some sort of short squeeze ahead of a rumoured potential takeover offer.
The first patent awarded to Progenity covers methods and devices for delivering a therapeutic agent into the gastrointestinal tissue for uptake into the body’s systems. The second patent covers a method of treating ulcerative colitis via an ingestible device.
The third and fourth patents awarded are part of Progenity’s therapeutics portfolio targeted at the gastrointestinal system.
Progenity recently raised $20 million via a share offering. It offered 13.3 million shares at $1.50 each on October 6, 2021, which saw its shares drop briefly before resuming their rally after the share subscription was completed.
The company develops and sells molecular testing products such as Innatal (a noninvasive prenatal screening test given to women early in pregnancy that screens for chromosome abnormalities).
Some of the chromosomal disorders screened for include down syndrome, trisomy 13, trisomy 18, and sex chromosome disorders via the analysis of cell-free DNA.
Progenity also offers pre-parent screening for carrier status of hereditary diseases in early pregnancy or before pregnancy.
The company has a wide array of atomic and molecular tests, including COVID-19 PCR tests, but its revenues have been falling short of analysts estimates, hence, its poor stock price performance.
PROG shares have significant potential given that they once traded as high as $15.90 after their June 2020 IPO, but this could happen over the long term as its fundamentals improve.
Traders who buy at current levels could have the $3.96 resistance level as their initial target.
*This is not investment advice. Always do your due diligence before making investment decisions.
PROG stock price.
Here’s why the PROG stock price is up 62.9% this past week. What’s next for the firm?
Should you invest in Progenity shares?
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