Zymergen Inc.

NasdaqGS:ZY Stock Report

Market Cap: US$253.6m

This company listing is no longer active

This company may still be operating, however this listing is no longer active. Find out why through their latest events.

Zymergen Past Earnings Performance

Past criteria checks 0/6

Key information

-13.03%

Earnings growth rate

68.14%

EPS growth rate

Chemicals Industry Growth12.93%
Revenue growth rate-22.05%
Return on equity-154.22%
Net Margin-2,503.04%
Last Earnings Update30 Jun 2022

Recent past performance updates

Recent updates

Seeking Alpha • Aug 25

Zymergen chief scientific officer to depart as company lays off more employees

Zach Serber, chief scientific officer of Zymergen (NASDAQ:ZY) and a co-founder, is leaving the company on Sept. 22. Zymergen (ZY) also said it is laying off another 80 employees. This follows the termination of 80 employees in late July. The company's shares are down 63% year to date. Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating views Zymergen (ZY) as a hold.
Seeking Alpha • Jul 26

Zymergen: Ginkgo Bioworks Acquisition

An acquisition was probably the only viable option for Zymergen, but shareholders are likely to be disappointed by the price, given the company’s ambitions at the IPO. The deal makes sense for Ginkgo as it reduces competition and expands its capabilities at a minimal cost. An all-stock transaction gives Zymergen shareholders exposure to a company with much brighter prospects, but there is a significant downside risk if Ginkgo stumbles in the future. Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA) has entered into an agreement to acquire Zymergen (ZY). While Zymergen shareholders are unlikely to be thrilled by the price, the company's financial position gave them little option. Ginkgo continues to solidify their position as the leading synbio platform, but is richly valued based on current operating metrics. The all-stock deal gives Zymergen shareholders exposure to a company with better prospects, but also introduces valuation risk. Zymergen At the time of Zymergen's IPO, the company appeared to be reaching an inflection point, with multiple products nearing commercialization. Zymergen's narrative and valuation fell apart soon after though, when the company announced these products were not viable and that the CEO would be stepping down. Since then, Zymergen has been in a race to restructure costs and create revenue streams, in the hope of staving off bankruptcy. Given the company's cost structure, balance sheet and the state of equity markets, an acquisition was probably the best hope for shareholders. Figure 1: Zymergen Target Opportunities (source: Zymergen) Automation & Tech Platform Zymergen had been in the process of offering modular automation systems to the market, to commercialize their lab expertise. In particular, Octant had purchased 11 of Zymergen's Reconfigurable Automation Carts (RACs) to help scale their drug discovery platform. These RACs are designed to improve the throughput, efficiency, and reliability of lab operations and are controlled by Zymergen's cloud software. Zymergen previously stated that they had approximately 30 prospects, with a typical 10-RAC system costing between 1-2.5 million USD and requiring approximately 400,000 USD in annual software and support costs. Figure 2: Zymergen RAC (source: Zymergen) Advanced Materials Zymergen have been developing materials, which they have bracketed under agriculture, water repellency, advanced polymers and enzymes. Zymergen has a fairly mature nitrogen fixation program that uses engineered microbes to replace nitrogen fertilizers. In their water repellency program, Zymergen have been exploring coated straws and recently demonstrated the successful conversion of their coated paper into an end product manufactured on a potential customer's production line. Within advanced polymers, Zymergen has announced a supply agreement with 3D4Makers to provide Polyimide for use in 3D printing. Polyimide is a high-strength polymer that is flame retardant, has excellent insulating properties and excellent thermal stability. The polymer will be offered to 3D4Maker's customers for applications like aerospace, automotive, and transportation. Zymergen has also developed mRNA enzymes (VCE and 2'-O-MT) for use in vaccines. Drug Discovery Zymergen is leveraging their metagenomic database to uncover natural molecules that inhibit targets of interest, with an initial focus on oncology. There are millions of novel bioactives from uncultured bacteria and fungi and Zymergen are computationally predicting the activity of these bioactives against human targets. Figure 3: Therapeutic Classes and Potential Targets (source: Zymergen) Ginkgo Acquisition Ginkgo is acquiring Zymergen in an all-stock transaction that values Zymergen at approximately a 300 million USD market capitalization. The stated aim of the acquisition is to accelerate the development of Ginkgo's platform. Ginkgo plan to integrate Zymergen's automation, software, data science tools and biological assets. Zymergen's core technical team will be retained, which will help Ginkgo to fulfill their hiring plans. Strategic alternatives will be considered for Zymergen's Advanced Materials and Drug Discovery businesses. It is possible that these will be spun out and become Ginkgo customers, in a similar manner to companies like Joyn Bio and Motif Food Works. Ginkgo has been active in M&A in recent years, with acquisitions either building on the capabilities of their Foundries, or providing the necessary vertical expertise to attract customers and successfully bring products to market. Figure 4: Ginkgo Acquisitions (source: Ginkgo Bioworks) Ginkgo is doing the right thing by conducting countercyclical M&A, but it is unclear how much value Zymergen will add. Ginkgo's appeal should be that they have singular capabilities, and acquiring competing synbio companies for their technology undermines this. Jason Kelly stated that approximately 70% of the deal's value lies in Zymergen's physical assets (foundry / automation). There could be significant issues integrating these assets into Ginkgo's workflows, although Zymergen's successful rollout of automation solutions at Octant has given Ginkgo confidence that this can be managed. Figure 5: Ginkgo's Plan for Zymergen's Assets (source: Ginkgo Bioworks) In its current state, Zymergen would significantly weaken Ginkgo's financial position, and hence it is likely that there will be a large reduction in headcount. Zymergen had approximately 500 employees at the end of 2021 in comparison to Ginkgo's 640 employees, but is not currently generating any meaningful revenue.
Seeking Alpha • Jul 14

Zymergen expands agreement with Octant on developing breakthrough medicines

Biotech company Zymergen (NASDAQ:ZY) expanded an agreement with therapeutics company Octant in relation to developing breakthrough medicines. Octant has more than doubled its initial investment through the purchase of six additional Reconfigurable Automation Carts, or RAC, units. ZY shares were trading +2.15% post-market. Source: Press Release
Seeking Alpha • Jun 03

Zymergen Seeks Turnaround But Runway Is Running Low

Zymergen went public in April 2021, raising around $500 million in an IPO. The firm designs advanced materials technologies to improve manufacturing processes. ZY has been decimated by the market after no revenue in 2021/2022 and the sudden departure of its CEO. While the firm has been restructured, it only has one year of cash runway, which isn't much for a zero revenue and high operating loss company.
Seeking Alpha • May 23

Zymergen: A Humbled Company With A Business On The Ropes

The stock for Zymergen Inc. has been in freefall since an initial recovery attempt following last year's disaster. The company will run out of cash in 2023 and prospects for viability remain murky. Of the many research and development projects underway, reconfigurable automation carts offer the most likely foundation for earning an 11th-hour infusion of cash. The coming full-time CEO will have to hit the ground running with a major sense of urgency to pull Zymergen off the ropes.
Analysis Article • Mar 27

Some Zymergen Inc. (NASDAQ:ZY) Analysts Just Made A Major Cut To Next Year's Estimates

Today is shaping up negative for Zymergen Inc. ( NASDAQ:ZY ) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a substantial...
Analysis Article • Mar 25

Zymergen Inc. (NASDAQ:ZY) Consensus Forecasts Have Become A Little Darker Since Its Latest Report

Zymergen Inc. ( NASDAQ:ZY ) missed earnings with its latest full-year results, disappointing overly-optimistic...
Seeking Alpha • Dec 09

Zymergen: Total Chaos

Rather than achieving a growth inflection point, Zymergen recently abandoned their most mature products and rationalized their product portfolio. The CEO has been replaced and the co-founder and operations chief has stepped down, along with a hiring freeze and a large headcount reduction, all of which point towards problems. Zymergen no longer has a clear path to profitability, which raises questions about the company as an ongoing concern.
Seeking Alpha • Aug 05

Zymergen: How To Buy A Disaster

Shares in Biofacturing company Zymergen (ZY) collapsed in epic fashion after a catastrophic setback in its commercialization plans. The stock is now significantly de-risked and worthy of speculation. I am considering a bet on the company's cash position, new management, and promising technology.
Analysis Article • Aug 05

Analysts Just Made A Major Revision To Their Zymergen Inc. (NASDAQ:ZY) Revenue Forecasts

Market forces rained on the parade of Zymergen Inc. ( NASDAQ:ZY ) shareholders today, when the analysts downgraded...

Revenue & Expenses Breakdown

How Zymergen makes and spends money. Based on latest reported earnings, on an LTM basis.

Earnings and Revenue History

NasdaqGS:ZY Revenue, expenses and earnings (USD Millions)
DateRevenueEarningsG+A ExpensesR&D Expenses
30 Jun 2215-3651040
31 Mar 2218-3491070
31 Dec 2117-3621060
30 Sep 2120-359980
30 Jun 2119-323950
31 Mar 2114-281850
31 Dec 2013-262780
31 Dec 1915-237850

Quality Earnings: ZY is currently unprofitable.

Growing Profit Margin: ZY is currently unprofitable.

Free Cash Flow vs Earnings Analysis

Past Earnings Growth Analysis

Earnings Trend: Insufficient data to determine if ZY's year-on-year earnings growth rate was positive over the past 5 years.

Accelerating Growth: Unable to compare ZY's earnings growth over the past year to its 5-year average as it is currently unprofitable

Earnings vs Industry: ZY is unprofitable, making it difficult to compare its past year earnings growth to the Chemicals industry (20.9%).

Return on Equity

High ROE: ZY has a negative Return on Equity (-154.22%), as it is currently unprofitable.

Return on Assets

Return on Capital Employed

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Company Analysis and Financial Data Status

DataLast Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis2022/10/23 22:35
End of Day Share Price 2022/10/18 00:00
Earnings2022/06/30
Annual Earnings2021/12/31

Data Sources

The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.

PackageDataTimeframeExample US Source *
Company Financials10 years
  • Income statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
Analyst Consensus Estimates+3 years
  • Forecast financials
  • Analyst price targets
Market Prices30 years
  • Stock prices
  • Dividends, Splits and Actions
Ownership10 years
  • Top shareholders
  • Insider trading
Management10 years
  • Leadership team
  • Board of directors
Key Developments10 years
  • Company announcements

* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.

Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.

Analysis Model and Snowflake

Details of the analysis model used to generate this report is available on our Github page, we also have guides on how to use our reports and tutorials on Youtube.

Learn about the world class team who designed and built the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Industry and Sector Metrics

Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.

Analyst Sources

Zymergen Inc. is covered by 5 analysts. of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.

AnalystInstitution
Derik de BruinBofA Global Research
Matthew SykesGoldman Sachs
Sriharsha PappuHSBC