Story by
David Canellis
David is a tech journalist who loves old-school adventure games, techno and the Beastie Boys. He's currently on the finance beat. David is a tech journalist who loves old-school adventure games, techno and the Beastie Boys. He's currently on the finance beat.
Biotech stocks continued to surge on Wednesday after two scientists responsible for gene-editing tool CRISPR received this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
CRISPR-powered stocks Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA), Editas Medicine (EDIT), and Beam Therapeutics (BEAM) have now jumped 13%, 11%, and 6% respectively.
CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP), co-founded by one of the Nobel winners Emmanuelle Charpentier, is also up more than 11% since Wednesday morning.
Collectively, these four CRISPR stocks are now worth nearly $12.2 billion — up from $6.5 billion in February with nearly $430 million added to their market values overnight.
Now valued beyond $7.1 billion, CRSP is by far the biggest CRISPR-centric company on the market. And it’s the best performing of the four above, having returned 65% so far. Tennessee-headquartered NTLA is second with 63%.
Wall Street rates CRISPR-powered stocks
CRISPR offers a relatively cheap and relatively method of editing practically any kind of DNA (animal or otherwise).
As one might expect, it’s already triggered a myriad of moral, ethical, and legal troubles for scientists, but researchers say the tool could lead to cures for a wide array of genetic diseases.
[Read: Esports and gaming stocks are returning more profit than Bitcoin]
Goldman Sachs also rated NTLA for the first time last month when it labelled it a “Buy” and set its price target to $33 (current price $23), according to finance portal Finviz.
None of this is investment advice. Don’t pretend it is, because it’s not. Always do your own research.
