Turnstone Biologics Corp. (TSBX): This Penny Stock is a ‘Strong Buy’ According to Analysts

We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best New Penny Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Turnstone Biologics Corp. (NASDAQ:TSBX) stands against the other new penny stocks.

Fears of a US recession are growing, sending stock markets down, and investors around the world are on edge. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released July job figures that were worse than anticipated, revealing only 114,000 new jobs generated in July compared to the predicted 175,000. These data alarmed investors, as did the disappointing latest earnings from tech giants. As a result, the manufacturing industry in the US had an eight-month low in activity and the unemployment rate reached a three-year high of 4.3% due to a decline in new contracts.

Monday was the worst day for Wall Street in nearly two years as key indexes fell on worries about a US recession. The average of the 500 largest publicly traded companies plummeted 3% to 5,186.33. However, the 500 large companies are still up more than 10% for the year.

Chris Weston, of the US online stockbroker Pepperstone, said global markets were “at a truly important juncture”. “What really matters now is whether money managers and traders feel sentiment has become too pessimistic, or if this deleveraging and risk aversion manifests into even higher volatility and drawdown.

Opinions among analysts regarding the gravity of the problem differ. James St Aubin, chief investment officer at Ocean Park Asset Management, “We’re witnessing the fallout from the curse of high expectations,”, while Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, said that markets may be overreacting. He stated:

“This isn’t a Category 3 hurricane, but we are seeing how markets react to signs that the economy is normalising after turning hot in the first half of this year.” “Markets can find themselves overreacting and investors [latch] on to anything as an excuse to take profits.”

The 500 large companies have gained more than 15% this year, despite recent setbacks.

The market’s anxiety may be heightened by the possibility that fewer initial public offerings (IPOs) might take place this year. However, 154 IPOs were listed on the US stock market in 2023, but this was 85% fewer than the record-breaking 1,035 IPOs in 2021 and 15% fewer than the 181 IPOs in 2022, 82.5% fewer than in 2021. IPOs totaling 6,203 have occurred between 2000 and 2024. 2009 had the fewest, with just 62. With 1035 IPOs in total, 2021 established an all-time record, surpassing the previous high of 480 in 2020.

George Chan, EY Global IPO Leader, says:

“As 2024 unfolds, participants in the IPO market are entering uncharted territory. IPO candidates are influenced by the recent pivot in investors’ preference toward proven profitability in an altered interest rate landscape, and are doing this while facing the intricate dynamics of an intensified geopolitical climate and the buzz around AI. To succeed in this shifting environment, IPO prospects must remain flexible and prepared to seize the right moment for their public debuts.”

Recent data from EY Global IPO Trends Q2 2024 show that in 2024, the US IPO markets saw a strong start that increased global proceeds. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific area had a poor start, which affected the worldwide volume overall. In the first half of 2024, the industrials (21%), technology (19%), and materials (11%) markets led the way in global IPO issuance, with India dominating in terms of deal volume. Meanwhile, the technology (21%), health and life sciences (17%), and industrials (15%) markets topped the IPO proceeds rankings, with the US attracting the lion’s share of these sectors. As the home to many of the world’s leading technology and healthcare companies, the US has a strong ecosystem for startups. Driven by favorable market conditions, expectation of interest rate cuts, and innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), IPO deal values have skyrocketed in both these markets. Moreover, a handful of large deals contributed to a 67% increase in proceeds from IPOs in the US in the first half of 2024.

Methodology:

In this article, we first used a stock screener to list down all stocks trading under $5 (as of the writing of this article) with high institutional ownership. We have limited our selection to stocks that went IPO over the past year. From the resultant dataset, we chose 10 stocks with the highest number of hedge fund investors, using Insider Monkey’s database of 920 hedge funds in Q1 2024 to gauge hedge fund sentiment for stocks. We have used the stocks’ market cap as a tie-breaker in case two or more stocks have the same number of hedge funds invested.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here)

The Bull Case for Danaher Corporation

Scientist in a lab working on a research project, focusing on biotechnology and healthcare advancements.

Turnstone Biologics Corp. (NASDAQ:TSBX)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 9

Turnstone Biologics Corp. (NASDAQ:TSBX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a differentiated approach to treat and cure patients with solid tumors by pioneering selected tumor- infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL).

The company made its IPO on July 21, 2023. Insider Monkey disclosed 9 funds that owned TSBX hedge funds in Q1 2024.

Piper Sandler maintained its $20.00 price target while reinforcing its Overweight rating on Turnstone Biologics (NASDAQ:TSBX) shares. In its 2024 first-quarter financial report, Turnstone Biologics gave a pipeline update. The company plans to release a clinical update on TIDAL-01, its flagship initiative, in time for its second-quarter 2024 earnings release.

The upcoming clinical update will focus specifically on a subset of patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC). Turnstone Biologics wants to illustrate the potential of its therapy where previous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies have shown little success because current standard treatments are not very effective in this area. The company intends to concentrate on head and neck, uveal melanoma, and colorectal cancer (CRC), as these conditions are seen to be critical for demonstrating the uniqueness of its treatment.

Financially speaking, TSBX has cash and equivalents of $77.8 million, which should be sufficient to fund operations until the second half of 2025, per analysts. Turnstone Biologics extends its financial runway and makes it possible for the therapeutic pipeline to continue advancing by securing $20 million in non-dilutive finance. The forthcoming clinical update for Turnstone’s TBio-4101 is anticipated to generate significant investor interest and may mark a turning point in the company’s standing in the medical community. William Waddill’s nomination bolstered the company’s board, adding more than three decades of biotechnology industry experience.

Turnstone Biologics is believed to have sufficient funding to accomplish the first clinical proof-of-concept for its tumor-selective TIL platform. The TIDAL-01 program update is especially noteworthy since it shows the company’s dedication to developing its lead program and perhaps filling gaps in the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) and other malignancies.

Turnstone Biologics Corp. (NASDAQ:TSBX) has a positive analyst outlook with a “strong buy” rating and an average 12-month price target of $19, suggesting a potential upside of over 705.08% from the current stock price of $2.36.

The company intends to differentiate its treatment in the oncology sector, as seen by its strategic focus on head and neck, uveal melanoma, and colorectal cancer. Turnstone Biologics is well-positioned to carry out its research and development activities in an attempt to create a new benchmark of care for patients with these types of cancer, since it has the financial runway to sustain its operations and clinical studies.

Overall TSBX ranks 5th on our list of the best new penny stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of TSBX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TSBX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These 10 Stocks in June.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.