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Why Is Immune Design (IMDZ) Up 15.8% Since Last Earnings Report?

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It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Immune Design . Shares have added about 15.8% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Immune Design due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.

Immune Design Posts Narrower-Than-Expected Loss in Q3

Immune Design reported loss of 29 cents per share in third-quarter 2018, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 32 cents and the year-ago loss of 52 cents.

Quarter in Detail

Total revenues were $0.46 million, up from $0.51 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenues were mainly received from the collaboration with Sanofi (SNY) for G103 (HSV2 therapeutic cancer) along with product sales to collaboration partners. Quarterly revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1 million.

Research and development (R&D) expenses increased 9.8% to $11.2 million in the quarter. The surge was due to an increase in milestone payments of $1.7 million to third parties as a result of the commencement of the SYNOVATE study. This was offset by a decrease in contract manufacturing services and personnel-related expenses.

General and administrative expenses rose 2.6% to $3.8 million.

Pipeline Update

Immune Design is developing multiple candidates using its discovery platforms — ZVex and GLAAS — in the field of immuno-oncology. Its key pipeline candidate is G100.

The company’s initial focus is to assess the efficacy of G100 in combination with Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab), in relapsed refractory follicular lymphoma patients who have received three prior lines of systemic therapy. In an open-label setting scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2019, the company plans to evaluate clinical activity based on Objective Response Rate (ORR) and Duration of Response, and patients by "TLR4HIGH" expression, an emerging biomarker that may provide the opportunity to pre-select patients with a higher likelihood to respond to G100.

The company also plans to evaluate G100 in earlier lines of lymphoma combined with Roche’s Rituxan (rituximab). The company is evaluating the potential development of G100 in other indolent lymphomas as well as aggressive lymphomas and solid tumors.

Cash Guidance

Immune Design expects cash to fund operations in 2021.

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

In the past month, investors have witnessed an upward trend in fresh estimates.

VGM Scores

Currently, Immune Design has a poor Growth Score of F, a grade with the same score on the momentum front. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a grade of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Estimates have been broadly trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. It comes with little surprise Immune Design has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We expect an above average return from the stock in the next few months.

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