Pacific Biosciences of California Inc. Shares PACB,
shot 22.3% toward a record high on Wednesday morning trading, ahead of the fourth-quarter report from the genetic analysis company, which will be released after the close following the announcement that Softbank Group Corp. SFTBY, from Japan,
9984,
invested US $ 900 million in the company. Stocks have soared 230.0% in the last three months and shot 1.051.7% last year. In comparison, iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF IBB,
advanced 39.7% in the last 12 months and the S&P 500 SPX,
gained 16.5%. The company said Softbank’s investment was in the form of senior convertible notes, due February 2028 and an initial conversion price of $ 43.50, or 10% above Tuesday’s closing price of $ 39.54 . “We believe that PacBio’s HiFi sequencing will be the de facto standard tool for population genomics, fundamentally altering healthcare practice,” said Akshay Naheta, chief executive officer of SB Management at Softbank. Separately, Pacific Biosciences is expected to report fourth quarter earnings of $ 43 cents per share and earnings of $ 24.05 million, after equalizing per share with earnings of $ 27.93 million in the same period last year.
