Stocks · Healthcare · Biotechnology
Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. PLRX
$1.03 -1.90% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $64.1M
Weak trendExpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- The stock is 45% below its highest close of the past year.
- Over the past year the stock returned -29.0%, behind the S&P 500 by 44.0 percentage points.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Healthcare sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 22%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 31%
- Interest coverBottom 12%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 3%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 2%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 4%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 22%
- 6-month returnBottom 21%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 23%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 32%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 14%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 37%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 20%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 16%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 1%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 24%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 6%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 40%
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return on invested capital | -55.5% | — | Bottom 22% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -11.3%
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -102.5×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -0.23%
- Shareholder yield
- -0.23%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +1.5%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +10.3%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -9.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 2 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $25.86
- Target vs current price
- +2410.7%
- Analysts with a rating
- 16
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 50%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | -5.3% | -1.0% | +5.8% | +9.6% | — |
| May 11, 2026 | +11.1% | -1.6% | -5.7% | -5.7% | -13.9% |
| Mar 11, 2026 | +16.7% | -4.3% | -4.3% | -2.2% | -15.8% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | +18.9% | -6.7% | +9.8% | -20.1% | -26.2% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | -14.5% | -0.6% | -5.3% | -3.6% | -3.0% |
| May 8, 2025 | -17.9% | +2.1% | -4.9% | +12.6% | +18.9% |
| Mar 3, 2025 | +17.2% | -59.9% | -52.9% | -57.3% | -62.8% |
| Nov 7, 2024 | +4.0% | -3.2% | -12.3% | -9.0% | -20.1% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | -$0.36 | -$0.34 | -5.3% | — |
| May 11, 2026 | -$0.32 | -$0.36 | +11.1% | — |
| Mar 11, 2026 | -$0.35 | -$0.42 | +16.7% | — |
| Nov 6, 2025 | -$0.43 | -$0.53 | +18.9% | — |
| Aug 7, 2025 | -$0.71 | -$0.62 | -14.5% | — |
| May 8, 2025 | -$0.92 | -$0.78 | -17.9% | — |
| Mar 3, 2025 | -$0.82 | -$0.99 | +17.2% | — |
| Nov 7, 2024 | -$0.95 | -$0.99 | +4.0% | — |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free-cash-flow yield | -110.62% | — | — | Bottom 2% |
| Earnings yield | -144.66% | — | — | Bottom 3% |
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.5%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.7%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -6.6%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -13.8%
- RSI (14)
- 37.1
- Relative volume
- 1.05×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 41.5%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 7th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.29
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.24
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -44.9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -94.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 25, 2021 | Aug 11, 2026 | -97.4% | 1350 days | Not yet recovered |
| Nov 27, 2020 | Dec 31, 2020 | -31.1% | 23 days | 24 days (Feb 5, 2021) |
| Feb 24, 2021 | Mar 5, 2021 | -21.3% | 7 days | 14 days (Mar 25, 2021) |
| Oct 12, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -16.4% | 12 days | 10 days (Nov 11, 2020) |
| Sep 29, 2020 | Oct 1, 2020 | -16.2% | 2 days | 4 days (Oct 7, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $64.1M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$1.49
- Revenue (TTM)
- $0
- 52-week range
- $1.02 – $1.95
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $7.6M | $9.7M | $1.6M | $0 | $0 |
| Gross profit | $7.6M | $9.7M | $1.6M | $0 | -$1.7M |
| Operating income | -$97.5M | -$127.2M | -$184.1M | -$228.4M | -$150.1M |
| Net income | -$97.3M | -$123.3M | -$161.3M | -$210.3M | -$149.3M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$2.71 | -$2.94 | -$2.75 | -$3.47 | -$2.43 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net income | -$57.8M | -$49.7M | -$56.2M | -$43.3M | -$26.3M | -$23.6M | -$20.0M | -$22.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.95 | -$0.82 | -$0.92 | -$0.71 | -$0.43 | -$0.38 | -$0.32 | -$0.36 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$75.4M | -$94.6M | -$116.4M | -$155.5M | -$128.3M |
| Capital expenditure | -$2.0M | -$1.8M | -$921,000 | -$3.8M | -$374,000 |
| Free cash flow | -$77.4M | -$96.4M | -$117.3M | -$159.4M | -$128.7M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $3.0M | $215.6M | $275.3M | $3.2M | $570,000 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $158.1M
- Total assets
- $189.9M
- Total liabilities
- $43.0M
- Total debt
- $28.7M
- Net debt
- $3.9M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $146.9M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 3,692,416
- Days to cover
- 8.87
- Change vs previous report
- +12.6%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.