Failed Drug Trial Sends TORC Into Penny Stock Territory

Pharmaceutical name resTORbio Inc (NASDAQ:TORC) has slid to the very bottom of the Nasdaq today after the company announced it stopped testing on its lead drug RTB101 for respiratory illness, following a failed late-stage trial. The biopharma firm added that they will continue testing on the drug in other conditions, such as Parkinson's disease. The news has placed TORC firmly in penny stock territory, down 82.2% at $1.41, and already hitting an all-time low of $1.35. 

Prior to today, TORC had staged a bounce off its late-October lows near the $6.50 region, climbing straight up with help from a well-received third-quarter earnings report last week. However, the shares' one-month high of $9.88 -- touched earlier this week -- was swiftly rejected by pressure at its 320-day moving average, sending the shares back below recent support at the 10-day moving average. 

While analysts haven't chimed in yet, the door is wide open for bear notes, especially considering all five in coverage consider TORC a "strong buy." Plus, its 12-month consensus price target sits all the way up at $24.33 -- a level the equity has yet to reach. 

This dramatic plummet could have shorts cheering today, even though TORC has landed itself on the short-sale restricted (SSR) list. In the last two reporting periods, short interest has risen 19.7% to 3.77 million shares. These pessimistic positions make up a healthy 18.2% of the stock's available float, too, or roughly 25 days at the stock's average pace of trading.