Underappreciated Potential of Merus’s Petosemtamab in Colorectal Cancer: Analyst Highlights Future Opportunities and Financial Stability

Merus (MRUS – Research Report), the Healthcare sector company, was revisited by a Wall Street analyst today. Analyst Charles Zhu from LifeSci Capital maintained a Buy rating on the stock and has a $110.00 price target.

Charles Zhu’s rating is based on the potential of Merus’s drug candidate, petosemtamab, in treating RAS/RAF-wildtype colorectal cancer (CRC). The market for this type of CRC is substantial, yet the opportunity remains underappreciated by investors due to previous dose escalation data that was disappointing but not informative. Zhu highlights the potential of petosemtamab’s dual binding mechanism to EGFR and LGR5, which could enhance the degradation of EGFR and improve treatment efficacy.
Looking forward to the second half of 2025, Zhu anticipates that data from ongoing trials will provide more clarity, especially for the 2L+ CRC cohort, which has the longest follow-up period. This cohort is expected to have the highest potential for de-risking, given its longer follow-up and the current standard of care’s objective response rate benchmarks. Additionally, Merus’s financial position, with approximately four years of cash runway, supports the company’s ability to continue its development efforts.

According to TipRanks, Zhu is an analyst with an average return of -6.4% and a 42.99% success rate. Zhu covers the Healthcare sector, focusing on stocks such as Merus, IDEAYA Biosciences, and Protara Therapeutics.

In another report released on June 3, Bank of America Securities also maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a $92.00 price target.