Key Points
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ImmunityBio’s quarterly product sales rose 53% from a year earlier, but they slipped from the prior quarter and missed Wall Street’s estimate.
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Even after Monday’s drop, the stock trades at roughly 39 times its annualized sales, and the company says there is “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue without additional funding.
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A year-end FDA filing could open a much bigger market, making the stock a reasonable speculative buy, but only for a position that can stomach volatility inside a broader portfolio.
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On paper, Monday was a good day in many ways for ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX). The company reported that sales of ANKTIVA, its bladder-cancer immunotherapy, rose 53% from a year earlier to $48.7 million in the third quarter. It also said a randomized trial of ANKTIVA in patients new to BCG treatment met its main goal.
Despite those results, the stock fell about 15% anyway to around $7.30 in late-afternoon trading. It has still more than tripled this year, from $2 at the end of 2025, though it sits about 40% below its February high of $12.43. So what is the market telling investors?
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Growth That Wasn’t Fast Enough
The 53% jump hides a less flattering comparison. Total revenue of $48.8 million was down from $51.2 million in the second quarter, according to the company’s quarterly filing, while both revenue and losses came in below analysts’ estimates.
Spending kept climbing, too. Research and development costs rose to $71.5 million from $51.2 million a year earlier. Excluding non-cash charges and stock compensation, the company lost $97.9 million in the quarter, up from $72.4 million.
The Valuation Leaves Little Room for Error
With about 1.06 billion shares outstanding, ImmunityBio is worth roughly $7.6 billion at Monday’s price. If you multiply this quarter’s product sales by four, you get about $195 million a year. That means the stock trades at around 39 times sales.
That multiple only makes sense if ANKTIVA becomes a much bigger drug, and the trial is the key to that. In the U.S., ANKTIVA is approved only for patients whose cancer has stopped responding to BCG, a standard bladder-cancer treatment. The new trial tested it in patients receiving BCG for the first time, in an earlier stage of the disease, which could expand the pool of eligible patients. ImmunityBio plans to ask the FDA to approve that use by year-end. The agency already widened ANKTIVA’s label once this fall: on Oct. 14, it added patients with high-grade papillary-only tumors that no longer respond to BCG.
The Cash Question — And Dilution Risk
Amid the waning sentiment, here’s the number I’d watch most closely: ImmunityBio had $334.3 million in cash and marketable securities on Sept. 30. Its operations used about $75 million in cash in the third quarter alone. At that pace, the cash on hand would last a little over four quarters.
Its 10-Q says “substantial doubt exists regarding our ability to continue as a going concern without additional funding or financial support.” That warning isn’t new: it has appeared in every annual and quarterly report ImmunityBio has filed since at least early 2023. Still, it reflects the real risk around liquidity and dilution. The firm expects to cover the gap with product sales, stock sales, and support from founder and Executive Chairman Patrick Soon-Shiong, including loans from his affiliated companies.
Stock sales, of course, mean dilution. ImmunityBio raised $175.6 million by selling shares through its at-the-market program in the first nine months of 2026, and its share count rose about 5% in that same period. It also owes $834.9 million, at fair value, on a convertible note held by Soon-Shiong’s Nant Capital.
Is It Time to Buy?
For investors comfortable with risk, a small position makes sense. ImmunityBio has something many young biotechs don’t: an approved drug with fast-growing sales. Product revenue in the first nine months already topped all of 2025, and operations used less cash than a year earlier even as spending rose. If the FDA approves ANKTIVA for patients new to BCG treatment, its market could grow substantially.
But the risks are real. The company is still losing money, relies on a single drug, and says it needs outside funding to keep going, which likely means more share sales. Soon-Shiong’s backing has kept it afloat, but it also ties ImmunityBio’s future closely to one person.
So keep any position at a size that can stomach volatility, add gradually rather than all at once, and watch two things: the FDA filing by year-end and whether sales start growing again from quarter to quarter. Investors seeking exposure to lower-risk cancer treatments may be better served by larger, profitable biotech stocks or a diversified basket of healthcare stocks.
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Jonathan Ponciano has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
