Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ:CGEN) shares jumped more than 18% in premarket trading on Monday after the biotechnology company reported first-quarter revenue ahead of analyst expectations, despite posting a slightly wider-than-expected quarterly loss.
Revenue beats expectations while earnings fall short
The clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company reported a quarterly loss of $0.08 per share for the period ended March 31, missing analyst estimates that had projected a loss of $0.07 per share.
Revenue came in at $2.2 million, exceeding consensus expectations of $1.63 million.
However, quarterly revenue was down 4% compared with $2.3 million reported in the first quarter of 2025.
Compugen said revenue during the quarter reflected recognition of portions of both the upfront payment and the IND milestone payment tied to its licensing agreement with Gilead.
Investors focus on clinical pipeline progress
Despite the earnings miss, investors appeared encouraged by stronger-than-expected revenue and continued advancement across the company’s clinical development programs.
Compugen said enrollment in its COM701 MAIA-ovarian study is continuing across all participating clinical sites in the United States, Israel and France.
The company remains on schedule to conduct an interim analysis during the first quarter of 2027.
“Q1 2026 reflects continued execution across all of our programs in line with our strategic priorities,” said Eran Ophir, president and chief executive of Compugen.
“With enrollment progressing across all COM701 MAIA-ovarian trial sites, we remain on track for having the median progression-free survival at the interim analysis by Q1 2027, a key potential inflection point for COM701 as a maintenance therapy in a patient population with significant unmet medical need and no current standard of care.”
Cash position supports operations into 2029
Research and development expenses increased to $6.9 million from $5.8 million a year earlier, primarily driven by higher clinical trial spending related to the MAIA-ovarian program and increased drug supply costs.
General and administrative expenses edged slightly lower to $2.3 million from $2.4 million.
Compugen reported total cash, cash equivalents, short-term bank deposits and marketable securities of approximately $134.9 million as of March 31, 2026.
The company said its current financial resources are expected to support operations through 2029 based on existing development plans.
Compugen also noted that partner AstraZeneca is continuing development of rilvegostomig across 11 ongoing Phase 3 studies, while the Phase 1 trial of GS-0321 under its partnership with Gilead Sciences is progressing as planned.