New York, January 8, 2026, 14:40 EST — Regular session
- RCUS shares fall about 9% in afternoon trading, after an early pop
- Morgan Stanley cuts to equal weight and lowers its price target to $20
- Arcus flags February data update and a Jan. 14 J.P. Morgan conference presentation
Arcus Biosciences (RCUS) shares slid 9.3% to $21.05 in afternoon trading on Thursday, after earlier touching $22.70. The stock hit a session low of $21.02.
Morgan Stanley cut its rating on Arcus to “equal weight” from “overweight” and trimmed its price target to $20 from $23, Investing.com reported, calling the risk-reward more balanced after a strong 2025 run. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index was down about 2.8%. 1
Arcus laid out its 2026 playbook late Wednesday, keeping casdatifan — which it has billed as a potential best-in-class HIF-2a inhibitor, a protein target in kidney cancer — front and center in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Chief executive Terry Rosen said priorities include “the rapid enrollment of PEAK-1” and “the initiation of a 1L Phase 3 study” — first-line treatment — a late-stage trial typically used to back an approval filing; the company pegged cash and investments at about $1 billion and said it can fund operations until at least the second half of 2028. Arcus also flagged a February update from its ARC-20 study, a Jan. 14 slot at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference and a first-quarter analysis with partner Gilead on its STAR-121 non-small cell lung cancer trial. 2
A Schedule 13G filing disclosed BlackRock owned 12.7 million Arcus shares, a 10.4% stake, as of Dec. 31. Such filings are used by large investors to report passive holdings above 5%. 3
In a separate Form 4, Arcus President Juan C. Jaen reported sales by a trust linked to him of 31,823 shares on Jan. 5 at prices between $21.34 and $23.20. The trades were done under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, a pre-set program that can limit accusations of trading on inside information. 4
Casdatifan is being tested with cabozantinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) used in kidney cancer, in patients who have already had immunotherapy. The drop drags RCUS closer to $20, Morgan Stanley’s new target, and that level is creeping into trader chat.
But this is still a clinical-stage story. A slip in PEAK-1 enrollment or underwhelming ARC-20 data could push timelines out, and cash runways in biotech shrink fast when late-stage trials drag.
