Cassava announced promising results for a mid-stage study of its lead Alzheimer's drug
The shares of Cassava Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:SAVA) are having another blowout day of trading, already up 24.4% at $2.24, and earlier touched a fresh annual high of $2.31. Now pacing for their highest close in over a year, the stock's surge comes after the drugmaker's lead Alzheimer's treatment, PTI-125, showed effective results in a mid-stage trial, reversing the shape of a type of protein that leads to the disease. The equity is now pacing for its third straight win.
In the past 10 sessions, SAVA has only settled in negative territory one time. Plus, the security is on track to notch its biggest weekly percentage gain since January 2018 -- up roughly 43.2% at last glance. For the year, Cassava has more than doubled, slicing through a long-time region of resistance at the $1.50 level.
While only two analysts are currently in coverage, both call SAVA a "buy." Plus, the consensus 12-month target price of $3 represents a level the stock hasn't touched since mid-2018.
While short interest has started to unwind -- down 2.1% in the last two reporting periods, the 1.69 million shares sold short still represent a healthy 11% of the stock's available float, or 24.3 days of trading at the stock's average pace. This could propel SAVA even higher, should these bears continue to hit the exits.