Axsome (AXSM) Down on Public Offering of Common Stock
Axsome AXSM announced that it is floating a secondary issue of 3 million shares of its common stock to the public at a price of $75.00 per share (excluding underwriting discounts). The public offering amounts to approximately $225 million.
Axsome also granted an option to underwriters of the issue to purchase up to 0.45 million shares at the same price.
The company plans to use the net proceeds from this new issue and its existing cash balance to support the commercialization and manufacturing activities for its recently approved central nervous system disorder treatment.
It also intends to use the proceeds to fund the late-stage clinical studies of its pipeline candidates. The studies include the confirmatory investigations evaluating ASX-14(esreboxetine) for fibromyalgia and AXS-12 (reboxetine) for narcolepsy patients with cataplexy. The company plans a resubmission of new drug application for AXS-07 to treat acute migraine.
Axsome’s other pipeline candidate includes AXS-05, which is currently underway for the treatment of other central nervous system disorders.
AXSM will also use the proceeds to accelerate the commercial adoption of antidepressant drug Auvelity and sleep disorder drug Sunosi.
Shares of Axsome nosedived 10% on Jun 28, following the announcement. The fall in share price can be attributed to the issuance of a large number of shares, which will dilute Axsome’s current shareholder base.
Per an SEC filing by AXSM, its common stock outstanding as of Mar 31, 2023, was 43,548,466. Notably, the secondary issue accounts for the disbursement of common stock, representing around 6.8% of the current outstanding shares.
Moreover, the issue price of $75 per share did not go well with the investors. As a matter of fact, the issue price is at an almost 11% discount to the closing price on Jun 27, wherein the stock closed at $83.37 per share.
Axsome’s shares nosedived 2.8% year to date compared with the industry’s 9.8% decline.
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The secondary offering is expected to close on Jun 30, 2023.
We note that while the equity issue could not cheer investors, it does give a boost to Axsome’s existing cash balance.
In May 2023, AXSM provided some information on its financial guidance for 2023. It expects cash balance of 246.5 million (as of March 2023-end). The company’s $350-million term-loan facility with Hercules Capital will be sufficient to fund future operations into cash flow positivity.
Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. Price and Consensus
Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. Quote
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Axsome currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the overall healthcare sector are Novartis NVS, Akero Therapeutics AKRO and Omega Therapeutics OMGA, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Novartis’ 2023 earnings has gone up from $6.56 per share to $6.74 in the past 90 days. Shares of Novartis have risen 8.5% year to date.
NVS’ earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 5.15%.
The consensus estimate for Akero Therapeutics has narrowed from a loss of $2.96 per share to a loss of $2.80 for 2023 in the past 90 days. Shares of Akero Therapeutics have nosedived 17.1% year to date.
AKRO’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 19.13%.
The consensus mark for Omega Therapeutics has narrowed from a loss of $2.49 per share to a loss of $2.05 for 2023 in the past 90 days. Shares of the company have rallied 2.2% year to date.
OMGA’s earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters, met the mark in one and missed in another, delivering an average surprise of 8.24%.
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