Berkeley Lights ( NASDAQ: BLI ), a maker of biotherapeutics and other cell-based products, extended losses with a ~14% decline in the pre-market Wednesday after the company fell short of Street forecasts with its 2Q 2022 financials
The disappointing earnings release has prompted JPMorgan analyst Julia Qin to downgrade the stock to Neutral from Overweight, pending better visibility and a more promising track record of execution.
Citing measures to realign the business for new strategic objectives, Berkeley ( BLI ) guided full-year revenue to the level in 2021.
Qin acknowledges the company's roadmap to transform the commercial operation and expects many of the initiatives will lead to a "meaningful inflection in the future commercial trajectory."
However, the analyst cites limited visibility given the challenging macro setup and early stages of the measures outlined.
"As such, we are Neutral as we await better visibility and more execution track record to form a more constructive view," she wrote. The price target for Dec. 2023 stands at $8, down from the previous Dec. 2022 target of $12 per share.
Wall Street has remained bullish on Berkeley ( BLI ) stock, with an average rating of Buy from analysts , while Seeking Alpha's quant system, which consistently beats the market , rated BLI as a Strong Sell from Aug. 2021.
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Berkeley Lights slips after earnings miss; JPMorgan downgrades seeking better visibility