Bionano’s (NASDAQ:BNGO) goal is to bring about a sea change in the area of cytogenetics – the way chromosomes are studied. It uses its optical genome mapping (OGM) platform Saphyr to do just that, with the system enabling large-scale structural variation (SV) analysis of the genome.
The company recently held its first-ever Strategy Day and Oppenheimer’s Francois Brisebois was there to get the lowdown. The analyst came away “incrementally more positive about OGM’s ability to transform cytogenetics and become the standard of care.”
“The presentation was helpful to better understand BNGO’s commercial opportunity, the main catalysts to keep an eye out for, the company’s approach to transform medical practice (reimbursement) and users’ opinion of the product,” Brisebois expounded. “Although developing a standard of care requires substantial time and effort, we believe BNGO is well on its way with a lot of promise in the coming years.”
Brisebois’s highlight of the day came during the presentation, in particular a slide that showed present molecular methods’ inability to capture all structural variants. Comments from users also pointed to OGM’s “potential to become standard of care,” and Brisebois thinks that the sole explanation for the US lagging Canada and EU in its usage revolves around reimbursement (for which there’s ongoing progress).
Bionano’s goals are ambitious and over the past 2 years the company has taken big steps forward; the platform’s throughput has increased 13x and the company has halved the ASP/genome. There have been technology upgrades, interim readouts from clinical studies, commercial growth and the publishing of results on >1,000 human samples.
Continuous improvement of the tech is in the cards and so is a plan to increase throughput 13x again. The company is also eyeing FDA approval, and wants to address reimbursement before 2025.
Lastly, Bionano also reiterated its preliminary FY22 revenue outlook of $27.7–28 million and offered color on what it sees as a $10 billion TAM (total addressable market) that includes 10,000 labs (10 million samples/year) and 1,400 therapeutic companies.
All told, Brisebois rates BNGO shares an Outperform (i.e. Buy) along with a $9 price target. That figure represents potential upside of a hefty 408% from current levels. (To watch Brisebois’s track record, click here)
Looking at the consensus breakdown, other analysts are on the same page. With 4 Buys and no Holds or Sells, the word on the Street is that BNGO is a Strong Buy. The $5.63 average price target puts the upside potential at 218%. (See BNGO stock forecast)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
