For years, CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP 8.97%) has been the type of stock investors might call a home run swing. The company develops medicines using gene-editing technologies to treat or cure serious conditions and diseases that traditional pharmaceutical drugs cannot.
The stock has generated good returns over time, but it's been a very bumpy ride at times. Today, CRISPR Therapeutics' stock trades at a fraction of its former price. However, Wall Street analysts see opportunity. On CNN Business, 58% of Wall Street analysts have rated CRISPR Therapeutics as a buy, with price targets signaling as much as 437% upside.
Here's a look at why analysts might be bullish.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Commercial revenue is finally taking off
CRISPR Therapeutics has been around for years, but it only recently commercialized its first product. Casgevy is a gene editing treatment co-developed with Vertex Pharmaceuticals to treat sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. It's a one-time treatment tailored to each patient's edited DNA that functionally mutes the disease, coming as close to a functional cure as you can get.
It takes time to treat patients with Casgevy; patients submit a sample of their DNA, which is edited and then reintroduced into the patient. CRISPR and Vertex received FDA approval in late 2023. Yet only 64 patients received Casgevy infusions in 2025.
The company generated $4.1 million in sales last year. Analysts see revenue growing to $43.9 million this fiscal year and to $151.6 million next fiscal year.
One-time treatments don't generate recurring revenue, but there's a vast patient pool. CRISPR estimates 60,000 eligible patients are in the United States and other countries where the therapy is approved.
NASDAQ: CRSP
Key Data Points
CRISPR stock is absurdly cheap -- if you look at the big picture
The stock doesn't look cheap at first glance. At its current market cap of $5.4 billion, CRISPR still trades at roughly 35 times next year's revenue estimates. But things change as you zoom out.
CRISPR has a strong pipeline, with five other therapies at various stages of clinical trials. If even one or two of those hit, it's a potential game changer. CRISPR wholly owns four of those five therapies, meaning significantly more financial upside if they make it through trials and to the market. In the meantime, Casgevy will continue to grow and create a financial floor for the company.
Some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies are worth hundreds of billions of dollars. CRISPR Therapeutics has a long way to go, but the ceiling is quite high. Gene editing produced a revolutionary treatment in Casgevy, and it can duplicate that success in some of the harshest known diseases, where traditional pharmaceuticals have failed.
This is all still highly speculative, so investors should tread carefully. That said, CRISPR's relatively modest market cap and its first big win with Casgevy make the stock a potential home run over the next decade, worth buying and holding to take that swing. If things go well, that 437% upside from analysts doesn't look so outlandish at all.
