89bio Pulls Back With Market — But Could The Stock Soar 250%?

89bio, Inc ETNB was plunging almost 10% lower on Friday in sympathy with the general market, which saw the S&P 500 plummeting over 2%.

In May, a number of analysts weighed in on 89bio following the biopharmaceutical company printing its first-quarter earnings on May 11. All four analysts are bullish on the stock.

Piper Sandler maintained an Overweight rating on 89bio and lowered the price target from $54 to $19. Oppenheimer maintained its Outperform rating and lowered the price target from $49 to $40. RBC Capital maintained its Outperform rating and lowered the price target from $35 to $32 and Raymond James upgraded 89bio from Outperform to Strong Buy and lowered the price target from $33 to $12.

Even the lowest price target suggests 89bio could soar 250% from the current share price.

89bio fell to a 52-week low of $2 on May 3, where the stock reversed course into an uptrend. 89bio negated that trend on Friday when it printed a lower low under Tuesday’s low-of-day at the $3.51 mark.

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The 89bio Chart: From a technical standpoint, 89bio was declining on Friday because the stock tried and failed to break up over the $4 level on three separate occasions this week. The inability to bust up through the level caused the stock to print a triple top pattern, which is bearish and often followed by a decline in a security’s price.

The pullback was needed, as 89bio’s relative strength index (RSI) reached the 70% level on June 3 and Wednesday. When a stock’s RSI reaches or soars above that level it becomes overbought, which can be a sell signal for technical traders looking to book profits.

• Friday’s decline was on lower-than-average volume, which indicates the lower prices are due to consolidation rather than fear selling. As of press time, about 186,000 89bio shares had exchanged hands compared to the 10-day average of 458,870.
• Bulls want to see the stock trade sideways on continued lower-than-average volume to gain strength and then for big bullish volume to come in and drive 89bio up above the $4 mark. Bears want to see big bearish volume come in and break the stock down below $3, which will cause 89bio to lose support at the 50-day simple moving average.
• 89bio has resistance above at $4 and $4.49 and support below at $3.34 and $2.60.