Why Sangamo Biosciences Shares Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Sangamo Biosciences (NASDAQ: SGMO  ) , a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing zinc finger DNA-binding proteins, rose as much as 11% after the company reported its first-quarter results.

So what: Although Sangamo has no drugs currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it still generated $4.6 million in revenue primarily due to a collaboration it signed with Shire last year. Net loss per share also shrank modestly to $0.13 from a loss per share of $0.14 in the year-ago period. Both figures easily surpassed the $3.8 million in revenue and $0.17 per-share loss expected by analysts. In addition, Sangamo is forecasting full-year revenue of $20 million to $24 million, more or less in line with the $20.7 million currently estimated by Wall Street.

Now what: Not to take away from Sangamo's nice one day move higher, but its earnings reports at this stage of its existence are relatively short-term drivers. For Sangamo, all eyes will be on the development of SB-728, which is currently in mid-stage trials for the treatment of HIV. Sure, there are plenty of other preclinical programs ongoing at Sangamo, but everything at the moment is riding on the success of SB-728. Until we get the top-line data from that study, consider everything else to be mostly white noise.

Craving more input? Start by adding Sangamo Biosciences to your free and personalized watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

While you can certainly make huge gains in biotechs like Sangamo, the best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool's free report "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich" names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of. Click here now to keep reading.