Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) Shares Up 10.3% on Strong Earnings

Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS)’s share price traded up 10.3% on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $14.94 and last traded at $14.89. 4,689,563 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 6,459,411 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.50.

The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.01.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ERAS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Erasca from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Erasca from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Erasca from $12.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 target price on shares of Erasca in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Erasca in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Shannon Morris sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.04, for a total transaction of $300,800.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Ebun Garner sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.59, for a total transaction of $670,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 25,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,174.84. This represents a 82.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 14.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Erasca

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Erasca by 594.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 396,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 339,177 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Erasca in the 2nd quarter valued at about $87,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Erasca in the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Erasca by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,835,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,143,000 after buying an additional 77,790 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Erasca by 423.3% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 244,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 197,637 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.78% of the company’s stock.

Erasca Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.06 and a beta of 1.16.

Erasca Company Profile

Erasca, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of precision medicines for patients with cancer. The company focuses on small molecule therapeutics that target critical signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and survival, with a primary emphasis on inhibitors of the MAPK pathway. Erasca’s approach is designed to deliver oral, targeted therapies that address both oncogene‐driven and immuno‐oncology indications, aiming to improve outcomes for patients with unmet medical needs.

Erasca’s pipeline comprises multiple development candidates, including small molecule inhibitors engineered to disrupt key nodes in cancer cell signaling.