Akoya Biosciences

First up, Akoya Biosciences, works in the field of spatial biology, or spatial phenotyping. This is the study of tissue imaging, at the cellular level, while keeping individual cells within their spatial context. These visualizations allow researchers to directly see how cells interact and organize with each other, and how they influence or are influenced by disease progression – or how they respond to therapy. In short, spatial phenotyping promises to bring a higher level of resolution to a clinician’s view.

Akoya offers the medical profession – both the research and clinical sides – a full range of solutions for spatial phenotyping, through three novel platforms: PhenoCycle, PhenoImage Fusion and PhenoImager HT. These platforms are designed to meet the needs of clinicians and researchers at the discover, human trial, and translational phases of medical programs.

These technological platforms don’t come cheap, however. Akoya moved to raise capital last year, through an IPO in April. The company priced its offering on April 15, 2021, putting 6.58 million shares on the market at $20 each. When the offering closed, on April 20, the company has sold a total of 7.567 million shares, raising some $151.3 million.

Even though the stock has declined in the past year, the company’s revenues have been rising. Akoya started reporting quarterly financials in Q1 of 2021, and four reports released show the top line gaining steadily, from $12.2 million 1Q21 to $16.2 million $4Q21. That most recent result was up 26% year-over-year.

For the full-year 2021, revenue came in at $54.9 million, for a 29.5% y/y gain. This was driven by a y/y increase of 33% in product revenue, which hit $44.5 million for the year. The company’s services revenue grew 16% y/y and reached $10.4 million.

Among the bulls is JPMorgan’s 5-star analyst Julia Qin who takes a bullish stance on AKYA shares. She writes, “We’re encouraged by another solid quarter and continued progress in both research and clinical markets, with the recent ABS launch and upcoming new product cycles in 2022/2023 to further accelerate the deployment of AKYA’s platforms in larger-scale research studies and clinical trials, where AKYA is uniquely positioned with a fit for purpose platform. As a spatial biology pure play, AKYA is ranked among the top three companies expected to be dominant in spatial biology in five years per our recent survey.”

These comments support Qin’s Overweight (i.e. Buy) rating on the stock, and her $20 price target implies a substantial one-year upside potential of ~91%.

Some stock can slide in under the radar, only picking up a few analyst reviews. Akoya is one of these – but all three of its recent reviews are positive, giving the company its Strong Buy consensus rating. The shares are selling for $10.45 and their $19 average price target suggests an upside of ~82% for the coming year.