# Caribou Biosciences (CRBU.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CRBU

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:43.026Z. Financial observations: FY2019–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $0.46 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 2 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 7 years

- Years with declining revenue: 2

- Years with a net loss: 7

- Operating margin variation: 0.57×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -5.93×

- FY2020: -2.92×

- FY2021: -6.98×

- FY2022: -7.68×

- FY2023: -3.37×

- FY2024: -16.67×

- FY2025: -12.20×

### moat: fail

- Years with nonpositive invested capital use equity plus debt and leases; positive earnings with no positive capital are shown above 100%.

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 6.4pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: -188.3%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -431.9%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 6.4 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 73.7%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 67.3%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 2

- Capital spending / revenue: 32.5%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -216.4%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -339.0%

- FY2020: 0.0%

- FY2021: -431.9%

- FY2022: -103.8%

- FY2023: -137.5%

- FY2024: -188.3%

- FY2025: -1069.3%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$568M

- Net income, five-year total: -$566M

- Return on incremental invested capital: -1164.2%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -3.5 pp

Chart: Owner earnings · five years; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: -$69M

- FY2022: -$99M

- FY2023: -$102M

- FY2024: -$152M

- FY2025: -$146M

### management: fail

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -339.0% vs -188.3%

- Per-share earnings: -2.80 to -1.59 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 61.3%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 61.3%

- Per-share value change: $1.21

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$2.80

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$1.59

- Buyback history: 0 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- ROIC, first three-year median: -339.0%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -188.3%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -$2.80

- FY2020: -$4.01

- FY2021: -$2.11

- FY2022: -$1.64

- FY2023: -$1.38

- FY2024: -$1.65

- FY2025: -$1.59

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -21.2%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.82×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: 13.8%

- FY2020: -3.0%

- FY2021: -7.8%

- FY2022: -2.3%

- FY2023: -2.0%

- FY2024: -3.5%

- FY2025: -21.2%

## Holders

- [Lee Ainslie](https://gigainvestors.com/mc): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 98% since Oct 2021 · sales +11.7%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:34.058Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +11.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1619856/000161985626000008/crbu-20251231.htm; observed 2026-03-05.

- FY2019: $5.8M 

- FY2020: $12M 

- FY2021: $9.6M 

- FY2022: $14M 

- FY2023: $34M 

- FY2024: $10.0M 

- FY2025: $11M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 67.3%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1619856/000161985626000008/crbu-20251231.htm; observed 2026-03-05.

- FY2021: 89.7% 

- FY2022: 73.7% 

- FY2023: 89.8% 

- FY2024: 60.7% 

- FY2025: 67.3% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in biotechnology; annual sales are USD 11.2 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1619856/000161985626000008/crbu-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-05); FY2025: revenue 11159000; grossProfit 7514000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-05); CRBU.US: Caribou Biosciences, Inc. operates as a clinical-stage clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) genome-editing biopharmaceutical company. It offers a genome-editing platform based on novel CRISPR hybrid RNA-DNA genome-editing technology that enables precise genome editing of allogeneic cell therapies. The company develops Vispacabtagene Regedleucel, an allogeneic anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat relapsed or refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma; and CB-011, an allogeneic anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Caribou Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Berkeley, California.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 60.7% to 89.8% during 2023–25.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-05); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 89.8%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-05); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 60.7%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1619856/000161985626000008/crbu-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-05); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 67.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-05); 7-year return on capital observations [[2019,-3.389737335834897],[2020,0],[2021,-4.318756937642834],[2022,-1.0383082985399115],[2023,-1.3749829039320955],[2024,-1.8830437332799244],[2025,-10.693029218843172]]; median -1.8830437332799244. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid no dividends in 7 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-05); Dividend observations: [[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,0],[2022,0],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### What the price says

The price is 3.9 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-05); Closing price 0.4647 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 0.119489085273307; price multiple 3.88905814231562. FY2025 cash earnings/share -1.5616245816985233. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2021-07: $16.20 per share

- 2021-08: $27.20 per share

- 2021-09: $23.87 per share

- 2021-10: $22.11 per share

- 2021-11: $18.59 per share

- 2021-12: $15.09 per share

- 2022-01: $10.73 per share

- 2022-02: $9.98 per share

- 2022-03: $9.18 per share

- 2022-04: $7.40 per share

- 2022-05: $8.33 per share

- 2022-06: $5.43 per share

- 2022-07: $8.12 per share

- 2022-08: $9.87 per share

- 2022-09: $10.55 per share

- 2022-10: $9.74 per share

- 2022-11: $9.31 per share

- 2022-12: $6.28 per share

- 2023-01: $7.21 per share

- 2023-02: $6.09 per share

- 2023-03: $5.31 per share

- 2023-04: $4.30 per share

- 2023-05: $4.41 per share

- 2023-06: $4.25 per share

- 2023-07: $7.19 per share

- 2023-08: $5.89 per share

- 2023-09: $4.78 per share

- 2023-10: $3.63 per share

- 2023-11: $5.87 per share

- 2023-12: $5.73 per share

- 2024-01: $6.13 per share

- 2024-02: $7.91 per share

- 2024-03: $5.14 per share

- 2024-04: $3.63 per share

- 2024-05: $2.88 per share

- 2024-06: $1.64 per share

- 2024-07: $2.32 per share

- 2024-08: $2.16 per share

- 2024-09: $1.96 per share

- 2024-10: $1.96 per share

- 2024-11: $2.19 per share

- 2024-12: $1.59 per share

- 2025-01: $1.43 per share

- 2025-02: $1.17 per share

- 2025-03: $0.91 per share

- 2025-04: $0.85 per share

- 2025-05: $1.06 per share

- 2025-06: $1.26 per share

- 2025-07: $2.03 per share

- 2025-08: $1.87 per share

- 2025-09: $2.33 per share

- 2025-10: $2.42 per share

- 2025-11: $1.94 per share

- 2025-12: $1.59 per share

- 2026-01: $1.41 per share

- 2026-02: $1.90 per share

- 2026-03: $1.90 per share

- 2026-04: $1.88 per share

- 2026-05: $2.36 per share

- 2026-06: $1.76 per share

- 2026-07: $1.46 per share

- 2026-08: $1.54 per share

- 2026-09: $1.27 per share

- 2026-10: $0.46 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1619856/000161985626000008/crbu-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-03-05.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.

## Reported holder observations

- [Lee Ainslie](https://gigainvestors.com/mc): 652,542 CRBU shares; USD 1,148,000 reported position value; 0.01% of portfolio; hold; quarter 2026 Q2.

# CRBU — Caribou Biosciences Inc.

Held by 1 investor · USD 1,148,000 total · 2026 Q2 · reported price USD 1.76 (split-adjusted).
Page: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CRBU

## Holders (2026 Q2)

| Investor | Value | % of their portfolio | This quarter |
|---|---:|---:|---|
| Lee Ainslie (https://gigainvestors.com/mc) | USD 1,148,000 | <0.1% | hold |

## Total held by quarter

- 2021 Q3: USD 21,784,636 · 1 holder · USD 22.87
- 2021 Q4: USD 9,748,977 · 1 holder · USD 14.94
- 2022 Q1: USD 5,990,336 · 1 holder · USD 9.18
- 2022 Q2: USD 3,543,303 · 1 holder · USD 5.43
- 2022 Q3: USD 6,884,318 · 1 holder · USD 10.55
- 2022 Q4: USD 4,097,964 · 1 holder · USD 6.28
- 2023 Q1: USD 3,464,998 · 1 holder · USD 5.31
- 2023 Q2: USD 2,773,304 · 1 holder · USD 4.25
- 2023 Q3: USD 3,119,151 · 1 holder · USD 4.78
- 2023 Q4: USD 3,739,066 · 1 holder · USD 5.73
- 2024 Q1: USD 3,354,066 · 1 holder · USD 5.14
- 2024 Q2: USD 1,070,169 · 1 holder · USD 1.64
- 2024 Q3: USD 1,278,982 · 1 holder · USD 1.96
- 2024 Q4: USD 1,037,542 · 1 holder · USD 1.59
- 2025 Q1: USD 593,813 · 1 holder · USD 0.91
- 2025 Q2: USD 822,203 · 1 holder · USD 1.26
- 2025 Q3: USD 1,520,423 · 1 holder · USD 2.33
- 2025 Q4: USD 1,037,542 · 1 holder · USD 1.59
- 2026 Q1: USD 1,239,830 · 1 holder · USD 1.90
- 2026 Q2: USD 1,148,000 · 1 holder · USD 1.76