Beam Therapeutics upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan

JPMorgan analyst Eric Joseph upgraded Beam Therapeutics to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $40, up from $38. Core to the upgrade thesis is the expectation of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency being a rising therapeutic theme in 2024 and BEAM-302 being a “compelling gene therapy candidate with best-in-class disease modifying potential across the full breadth of patients,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm sees an early biomarker readout from the BEAM-302 Phase 1 study initiating in the first half of 2024 “being immensely value accretive for shares.”