After GameStop's spectacular short squeeze, investors are now wondering if other heavily shorted stocks that are popular among contrarian Reddit investors, such as CEL-SCI.
As it turns out, discipline becomes paramount when the value of one's holdings goes up so high and so fast.
CEL-SCI is a development-stage biotech that is seeking to develop a novel immunotherapy treatment, Multikine, for head and neck cancer. Despite its noble goals, the company has its fair share of skeptics: Nearly 30% of its shares are shorted.
Multikine is CEL-SCI's only late-stage candidate. The experimental therapy is going through the final stages of phase 3 data collection and statistical analysis, with results expected any day. Multikine's phase 3 clinical trial has been going on for a decade, even though it was supposed to conclude in December 2015. The discrepancy between the actual and estimated trial completion time has caused CEL-SCI to become a contested stock.
All of this matters because large-cap biotechs can acquire development-stage competitors that successfully bring just one immuno-oncology therapy to market for more than $20 billion. CEL-SCI's market cap is just about $850 million, so the stock would without a doubt become a multi-bagger if it can bring Multikine past the finish line. Likewise, since it only has about $40.5 million in assets and negligible revenue, it will likely trade down to zero if Multikine disappoints.