HC Wainwright Has Optimistic Outlook of CBIO Q1 Earnings

Crescent Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBIO) – HC Wainwright lifted their Q1 2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Crescent Biopharma in a report released on Monday, March 2nd. HC Wainwright analyst M. Kapoor now anticipates that the biopharmaceutical company will post earnings of ($0.76) per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of ($1.33). HC Wainwright has a “Buy” rating and a $22.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Crescent Biopharma’s current full-year earnings is ($0.16) per share. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Crescent Biopharma’s Q2 2026 earnings at ($0.78) EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at ($0.79) EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at ($0.81) EPS and FY2026 earnings at ($3.14) EPS.

CBIO has been the subject of several other reports. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Crescent Biopharma in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $29.00 price target on Crescent Biopharma in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Crescent Biopharma in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e-)” rating on shares of Crescent Biopharma in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Crescent Biopharma from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

Crescent Biopharma Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ CBIO opened at $11.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $157.37 million, a PE ratio of -0.80 and a beta of 1.31. Crescent Biopharma has a 12 month low of $8.72 and a 12 month high of $28.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $11.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.37.

Crescent Biopharma (NASDAQ:CBIO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($4.01) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.22) by ($1.79). The business had revenue of $10.84 million during the quarter.

Institutional Trading of Crescent Biopharma

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Crescent Biopharma in the second quarter worth about $437,000. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crescent Biopharma in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,520,000. Commodore Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Crescent Biopharma in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,322,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Crescent Biopharma during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,629,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Crescent Biopharma during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $149,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.19% of the company’s stock.

More Crescent Biopharma News

Here are the key news stories impacting Crescent Biopharma this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HC Wainwright sharply reduced the magnitude of its loss forecasts for FY2026 and each quarter (Q1–Q4 2026 EPS revised to ~‑$0.76 to ‑$0.81 and FY2026 to ‑$3.14 from a prior much larger loss), and keeps a “Buy” rating with a $22 price target — a near‑term catalyst supporting upside expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Crescent expanded its oncology collaboration footprint via an alliance with Kelun‑Biotech to advance bispecific/ADC combination strategies — this partnership could enhance the company’s pipeline value and future partnering or licensing opportunities. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reports for early March show anomalous values (0 shares, NaN changes, days‑to‑cover 0.0) — appears to be a data/reporting error, so there’s no clear evidence of a rising short burden or squeeze risk from the published figures.
• Negative Sentiment: A recent writeup framed HC Wainwright commentary as pessimistic for CBIO’s near‑term share price (headline suggests negative outlook), which can amplify selling, especially after the company’s prior large quarterly EPS miss. Read More.

About Crescent Biopharma

Crescent Biopharma, Inc (NASDAQ: CBIO) is a clinical‐stage immuno‐oncology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for patients with solid tumors. The company’s research strategy centers on combination approaches that enhance anti‐tumor immune responses by simultaneously targeting multiple pathways implicated in immune evasion and tumor growth.

The company’s lead candidate, CPB-201, is a bifunctional fusion protein designed to block programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) while neutralizing transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), with the goal of restoring T-cell activity and reducing tumor fibrosis.