Yahoo Finance AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU): Are Analysts Optimistic?
AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU) is possibly approaching a major achievement in its business, so we would like to shine some light on the company. AC Immune SA, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, designs, and develops medicines and diagnostic products for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases associated with protein misfolding. The company’s loss has recently broadened since it announced a CHF54m loss in the full financial year, compared to the latest trailing-twelve-month loss of CHF55m, moving it further away from breakeven. As path to profitability is the topic on AC Immune's investors mind, we've decided to gauge market sentiment. We've put together a brief outline of industry analyst expectations for the company, its year of breakeven and its implied growth rate.
View our latest analysis for AC Immune
According to the 4 industry analysts covering AC Immune, the consensus is that breakeven is near. They anticipate the company to incur a final loss in 2024, before generating positive profits of CHF29m in 2025. Therefore, the company is expected to breakeven just over a year from now. In order to meet this breakeven date, we calculated the rate at which the company must grow year-on-year. It turns out an average annual growth rate of 13% is expected, which is relatively reasonable. However, if this rate turns out to be too buoyant, the company may become profitable later than analysts predict.
Underlying developments driving AC Immune's growth isn’t the focus of this broad overview, however, keep in mind that by and large a biotech has lumpy cash flows which are contingent on the product type and stage of development the company is in. So, a double-digit growth rate is not out of the ordinary, particularly when a company is in a period of investment.
One thing we’d like to point out is that AC Immune has no debt on its balance sheet, which is quite unusual for a cash-burning biotech, which usually has a high level of debt relative to its equity. This means that the company has been operating purely on its equity investment and has no debt burden. This aspect reduces the risk around investing in the loss-making company.
Next Steps:
This article is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis on AC Immune, so if you are interested in understanding the company at a deeper level, take a look at AC Immune's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also compiled a list of important aspects you should look at:
Valuation: What is AC Immune worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether AC Immune is currently mispriced by the market.
Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on AC Immune’s board and the CEO’s background.
Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
