Shares of Pacific Biosciences of California Inc. PACB,
rose 22.3% toward a record price on Wednesday morning, ahead of the genetic analysis company’s fourth-quarter report to be released after the closing bell, following the announcement that Softbank Group Corp., based in Japan, SFTBY,
9984,
invested $ 900 million in the company. Shares have now risen 230.0% over the past three months and shot up 1,051.7% over the last year. In comparison, the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETB IBB ETF,
has advanced 39.7% in the last twelve months and the S&P 500 SPX,
has gained 16.5%. The company said Softbank’s investment was made in the form of senior convertible notes, which will mature in February 2028 and have an initial conversion price of $ 43.50, 10% above Tuesday’s closing price of $ 39.54. “We believe PacBio’s HiFi sequencing will be the de facto standard tool for population genomics that fundamentally alters the practice of health,” said Akshay Naheta, executive director of Softbank’s SB Management. Pacific Biosciences is also expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 43 cents per share on revenue of $ 24.05 million later, after breaking its revenue by $ 27.93 million per share, in the same period of the previous year.