Stock Market Today, Jan. 21: ImmunityBio Rises Again As Short-Sellers Face Losses

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX), which develops immunotherapies for cancers and infectious diseases, closed Wednesday at $6.92, up 6.79%. The stock moved higher as short-sellers considered what to do after the company’s share price tripled in just three weeks this year. Trading volume reached 93.5 million shares, about 357% above its three-month average of 20.5 million shares. ImmunityBio IPO'd in 2015 and has fallen 80% since going public.

How the markets moved today

The S&P 500 gained 1.16% to finish Wednesday at 6,875, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.18% to close at 23,225. Within biotechnology, peers Nkarta closed at $2.2 (+7.84%) and Allogene Therapeutics ended at $1.6 (+1.91%), underscoring ongoing interest in higher-risk drug developers.

What this means for investors

ImmunityBio’s incredible run continued today as short-sellers considered closing their positions in the stock following a tremendous batch of news over the last two weeks. Today’s 7% share price increase doesn’t really tie to any specific news, but likely stems from a certain amount of these short-sellers covering their positions following recent positive developments.

Bloomberg reports that short-sellers now face a nearly $500 million paper loss on the stock following its rise, thanks to 35% of its public float being held short before this year’s run. Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, ImmunityBio’s chief scientist, medical officer, and executive chairman, explained, “It was hard for me to understand how you would short a stock for a company trying to find a cure for cancer.” I’d tend to agree at this point.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nkarta. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.