Why Berkeley Lights Shares Are Falling Today

Berkeley Lights Inc BLI is trading lower Thursday after the company announced a CEO transition and reported preliminary financial results. Multiple analyst firms also downgraded the stock following the news. 

Berkeley Lights announced that Eric Hobbs will transition from his role as CEO and member of the board of directors to president of the company's Antibody Therapeutics business line. Berkeley Lights said it's initiating a search for a new CEO as it continues to execute on its business strategy.

"We are committed to conducting a thorough CEO search with a focus on identifying a new leader with a proven record of scaling operations and unlocking the potential of highly innovative companies, said Gregory Lucier, chairperson of the board of directors at Berkeley Lights.

The company also announced preliminary financial results for full-year 2021.

Berkeley Lights expects revenue to be in the range of $84 million to $84.5 million, representing an increase of more than 30% year-over-year. In addition, recurring revenue grew more than 35% year-over-year.

Berkeley Lights also said it expects 30% revenue growth in 2022. The company plans to issue full financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2021 in late February.

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Berkeley Lights is a digital cell biology company focused on enabling and accelerating the rapid development and commercialization of biotherapeutics and other cell-based products.

• Stifel analyst Daniel Arias downgraded Berkeley Lights from a Buy rating to a Hold rating and lowered the price target from $61 to $12.
• William Blair analyst Brian Weinstein downgraded Berkeley Lights from an Outperform rating to a Market Perform rating.

BLI Price Action: Berkeley Lights has traded as high as $98.39 over a 52-week period. It's making new 52-week lows Thursday.

The stock was down 33.5% at $10.80 at time of publication.