What's In Store For Jounce (JNCE) This Earnings Season?

We expect investors to focus on pipeline updates when Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:JNCE) reports fourth-quarter 2019 results.

Shares of the company have gained 43.7% in the past year against the industry’s 2.6% decline.

Jounce’s earnings performance has been mixed over the trailing four quarters.

The company beat expectations in three of the last four quarters and missed in the remaining one. The trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise is 27.10%, on average.

In the last reported quarter, Jounce delivered a positive earnings surprise of 28.9%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors at Play

Since Jounce is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, the focus is primarily on pipeline updates.

The company’s most advanced product candidate, vopratelimab, is a clinical-stage monoclonal antibody that binds to and activates the Inducible T cell CO-Stimulator, or ICOS, which is a protein on the surface of certain T cells commonly found in many solid tumors.

The company is currently conducting a phase II study, EMERGE, of vopratelimab in combination with Yervoy, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody, in PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor-experienced patients with two tumor types, non-small cell lung cancer and urothelial cancer. Enrollment in EMERGE commenced in June 2019.

Jounce is planning to initiate the phase II SELECT clinical study of vopratelimab combined with its investigational PD-1 inhibitor, JTX-4014, in TIS biomarker-selected patients.

Earlier in the month, the company announced new data on the identification of the predictive biomarker to be used for patient selection in the SELECT clinical study of vopratelimab.

The company also announced a research collaboration with NanoString to support the application of the predictive biomarker to be used in the SELECT study.

Investors will focus on updates on the same.

Jounce’s second product candidate, JTX-4014, is a clinical-stage anti-PD-1 antibody that is being developed primarily for potential use in combination with future product candidates. The company completed enrollment in a phase I study of JTX-4014 monotherapy that is designed to assess safety. The company has determined the recommended dose for the phase II study. Additionally, Jounce exclusively licensed worldwide rights to JTX-8064, a LILRB2 receptor antagonist, to Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) . The company earns license and collaboration revenues from the same. Updates on the progress of these candidates are expected during the earnings call.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Jounce this season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Earnings ESP: Jounce’s Earnings ESP is 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at an earnings of 41 cents.

Zacks Rank: Jounce currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are some biotech stocks you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases.

Clovis Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLVS) has an Earnings ESP of +0.81% and a Zacks Rank #2. It is scheduled to release earnings on Feb 24. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Immunomedics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMU) has an Earnings ESP of +3.37% and a Zacks Rank #2.

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