Leerink Partners Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Zymeworks (NASDAQ:ZYME) Stock

Zymeworks (NASDAQ:ZYME) had its price objective raised by analysts at Leerink Partners from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Leerink Partners’ price target points to a potential upside of 129.89% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Zymeworks from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Zymeworks in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research cut Zymeworks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $30.00) on shares of Zymeworks in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Zymeworks in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.70.

Zymeworks Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of ZYME stock opened at $25.23 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $23.82 and its 200 day moving average is $20.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.36 and a beta of 1.23. Zymeworks has a twelve month low of $9.03 and a twelve month high of $28.49.

Zymeworks (NASDAQ:ZYME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.55) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.35) by ($0.20). Zymeworks had a negative net margin of 76.56% and a negative return on equity of 26.00%. The company had revenue of $2.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.78 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.31) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 91.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Insider Activity

In other Zymeworks news, COO Mark Hollywood sold 6,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.67, for a total transaction of $138,740.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 132,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,013,137.71. This represents a 4.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Andrew Moore sold 20,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total transaction of $504,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $783,421.20. This trade represents a 39.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 187,933 shares of company stock valued at $4,673,716. 33.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zymeworks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EcoR1 Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Zymeworks by 33.1% during the second quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC now owns 22,970,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,278,000 after acquiring an additional 5,710,840 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Zymeworks by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 5,750,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,449 shares during the period. Perceptive Advisors LLC raised its position in Zymeworks by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 3,261,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,187 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Zymeworks by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,328,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,315,000 after buying an additional 174,293 shares during the period. Finally, Vestal Point Capital LP grew its position in shares of Zymeworks by 53.5% during the third quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 1,765,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,146,000 after buying an additional 615,000 shares in the last quarter. 92.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Zymeworks

Here are the key news stories impacting Zymeworks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several firms raised price targets and ratings, boosting upside expectations (Stifel Nicolaus to $47 buy; Leerink Partners to $58 outperform). Analyst upgrades raise demand and support a higher valuation. Benzinga: Price Target Raises
• Positive Sentiment: Zymeworks closed a $250M royalty-backed financing with Royalty Pharma and reported $270.6M in cash — extending the runway beyond 2028 and materially lowering near-term dilution risk, which investors favor for biotech developers. Seeking Alpha: FY25 Review
• Positive Sentiment: Consensus analyst stance remains constructive (average “Moderate Buy”), lending continued buy-side support amid the company’s milestone-driven story. AmericanBankingNews: Analyst Recommendation
• Neutral Sentiment: Company and sell-side coverage provided detailed Q4 call transcripts and summaries — useful for modeling but mixed in tone (operational detail, milestone runway, commercialization planning). Investors will parse these for near-term catalysts. Yahoo Finance: Q4 Earnings Call Summary
• Neutral Sentiment: Management outlined a milestone-driven expansion through 2028 with stated ~$1.5B potential in milestones — a roadmap that can create big upside but depends on successful execution and commercial launches. Seeking Alpha: Milestone Potential
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 results were a clear downside: EPS and revenue materially missed estimates (revenue fell ~92% YoY), and margins remain negative — highlighting execution risk and the milestone volatility inherent in the business. This weakness remains a fundamental headwind until commercial traction is demonstrated. Yahoo Finance: Q4 Earnings Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: The company’s improved liquidity increases upside optionality but also concentrates investor returns on the commercial success of Ziihera/zanidatamab — meaning trial/commercial execution risk could trigger downside if launches underperform. Seeking Alpha: FY25 Review

Zymeworks Company Profile

Zymeworks Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation multifunctional biotherapeutics. The company specializes in engineered antibody and protein therapeutics designed to address a range of unmet medical needs in oncology and other serious diseases. Through its proprietary platforms, Zymeworks aims to create novel bispecific and multispecific molecules that can simultaneously engage multiple targets and recruit immune effector functions to enhance potency and specificity.

At the core of Zymeworks’ innovation is its Azymetric™ bispecific antibody platform, which enables the design of asymmetrical bispecific antibodies with controlled assembly and high stability.