Geron Shares Rise On Merriman Analyst Upgrade

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Geron Corp., which develops drugs using stem cells, rose Monday after a Merriman Curhan Ford analyst upgraded the stock, citing the company's potential in producing new cancer therapies.

Analyst Joe Pantginis upgraded shares to "Buy" from "Neutral", highlighting the company's vaccine approach to treating cancer. He also boosted his price target range to between $9 and $10 apiece, from a prior outlook of $5 to $5.50 apiece.

The stock rose 45 cents, or 6.9 percent, to $6.95 in morning trading. Shares have traded between $2.48 and $9.24 over the last 52 weeks.

Pantginis said the company's lead product candidate, GRN163L, represents a promising new cancer treatment.

"Geron also is poised to be a key leader in the embryonic stem cell arena," he said, in a note to investors. "While volatility is still expected from the stem cell platform at Geron, we believe the increased visibility and data flow from the telomerase (cancer) program should drive the stock going forward."

Embryonic stem cells are unspecialized cells capable of turning into a wide variety of other cells. They are collected by cloning embryos in a laboratory, but the embryo is destroyed in the process.