# Wave Life Sciences (WVE.US)

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

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:33:14.966Z. Financial observations: FY2013–FY2026.

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: $3.19 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 3 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: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 3

- Years with a net loss: 10

- Operating margin variation: 1.14×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -27.69×

- FY2018: -11.07×

- FY2019: -13.03×

- FY2020: -7.64×

- FY2021: -3.10×

- FY2022: -44.59×

- FY2023: -0.60×

- FY2024: -1.02×

- FY2025: -5.04×

- LTM to Jun 2026: -3.33×

### 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)

- ROIC, median of available years: -91.5%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -170.9%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -2.9 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 76.4%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 79.3%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 9

- Capital spending / revenue: 15.6%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -16066.5%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -32.5%

- FY2017: -14445.3%

- FY2018: -150.5%

- FY2019: -170.9%

- FY2020: -108.1%

- FY2021: -160.8%

- FY2022: 0.0%

- FY2023: -74.9%

- FY2024: -37.1%

- FY2025: -31.7%

### 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: -$601M

- Net income, five-year total: -$643M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 0.0%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 32.5 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 286.5 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: -13.4%

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

- FY2021: -$113M

- FY2022: -$153M

- FY2023: -$49M

- FY2024: -$89M

- FY2025: -$196M

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -150.5% vs -37.1%

- Per-share earnings: -2.43 to -0.70 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 22.8%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 33.9%

- Market cap gain: $2.6B

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$1.2B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 22.8%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 33.9%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: $1.73

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$2.43

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$0.70

- Buyback history: 0 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $0

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: -$1.3B

- ROIC, first three-year median: -150.5%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -37.1%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -$2.43

- FY2017: -$3.85

- FY2018: -$5.06

- FY2019: -$5.72

- FY2020: -$3.82

- FY2021: -$2.36

- FY2022: -$2.05

- FY2023: -$0.54

- FY2024: -$0.70

- FY2025: -$1.21

### accounting: pass

- latest-year receivables to sales index (DSRI) exceeds 1.465

- Sloan accruals: -2.6%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 2.27×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -14.3%

- FY2017: -10.1%

- FY2018: -41.8%

- FY2019: -1.9%

- FY2020: -12.2%

- FY2021: -16.1%

- FY2022: -23.3%

- FY2023: -13.9%

- FY2024: 15.3%

- FY2025: -2.6%

## Holders

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

## Price story

Down 81% since Dec 2025 · "The stock sank after disappointing higher-dose WVE-007 obesity data underperformed the lower dose." (nasdaq.com, Mar 2026) · sales +53%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:53.785Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-07-31: Wave (WVE) Q2 Revenue Drops 56% ([nasdaq.com](https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/wave-wve-q2-revenue-drops-56))

- 2025-12-14: Wave Life (WVE) Shares Nearly Triple on Encouraging Obesity Drug Trial ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wave-life-wve-shares-nearly-194059773.html))

- 2026-03-26: Wave Plunges More Than 50% After Obesity Shot Falls Short ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/healthcare/articles/wave-plunges-more-50-obesity-134054820.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +53%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1631574/000119312526073472/wve-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-26.

- FY2017: $3.7M 

- FY2018: $14M 

- FY2019: $16M 

- FY2020: $20M 

- FY2021: $41M 

- FY2022: $3.6M 

- FY2023: $113M 

- FY2024: $108M 

- FY2025: $43M 

- FY2026: $65M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 79.3%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1631574/000119312526073472/wve-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-26.

- FY2016: 73.5% 

- FY2025: 79.3% 

## Owner memo

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

### How it makes money

Operates in biotechnology; annual sales are USD 42.7 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1631574/000119312526073472/wve-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: revenue 42727000; grossProfit 33875000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 79.3% to 100% during 2023–25; it lost 91.5% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 100%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 100%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1631574/000119312526073472/wve-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-26); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 79.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,-0.32452985551150115],[2017,-144.45311942959],[2018,-1.5047363016560997],[2019,-1.7093076371794473],[2020,-1.0810544864073945],[2021,-1.6076944275322844],[2022,0],[2023,-0.7486876289234543],[2024,-0.3712699696491131],[2025,-0.31737599394168875]]; median -0.9148710576654244. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 1 of 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); Dividend observations: [[2016,30000000],[2017,0],[2018,0],[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.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 15.5% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-11); WVE.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 15.520999999999999 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-11.

### What the price says

The price is 12.6 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-26); Closing price 3.19 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 0.253347476645317; price multiple 12.591402299482763. FY2025 cash earnings/share -1.1636183726164624. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

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

- 2016-10: $31.85 per share

- 2016-11: $35.60 per share

- 2016-12: $26.15 per share

- 2017-01: $28.75 per share

- 2017-02: $30.10 per share

- 2017-03: $27.50 per share

- 2017-04: $21.10 per share

- 2017-05: $18.90 per share

- 2017-06: $18.60 per share

- 2017-07: $19.85 per share

- 2017-08: $23.50 per share

- 2017-09: $21.75 per share

- 2017-10: $23.05 per share

- 2017-11: $37.20 per share

- 2017-12: $35.10 per share

- 2018-01: $40.00 per share

- 2018-02: $50.95 per share

- 2018-03: $40.10 per share

- 2018-04: $44.45 per share

- 2018-05: $46.55 per share

- 2018-06: $38.25 per share

- 2018-07: $40.40 per share

- 2018-08: $53.30 per share

- 2018-09: $50.00 per share

- 2018-10: $46.69 per share

- 2018-11: $47.85 per share

- 2018-12: $42.04 per share

- 2019-01: $37.25 per share

- 2019-02: $41.93 per share

- 2019-03: $38.85 per share

- 2019-04: $26.53 per share

- 2019-05: $22.93 per share

- 2019-06: $26.09 per share

- 2019-07: $21.41 per share

- 2019-08: $23.00 per share

- 2019-09: $20.53 per share

- 2019-10: $25.29 per share

- 2019-11: $33.15 per share

- 2019-12: $8.02 per share

- 2020-01: $7.10 per share

- 2020-02: $8.44 per share

- 2020-03: $9.37 per share

- 2020-04: $8.68 per share

- 2020-05: $10.18 per share

- 2020-06: $10.41 per share

- 2020-07: $8.78 per share

- 2020-08: $12.53 per share

- 2020-09: $8.49 per share

- 2020-10: $7.07 per share

- 2020-11: $8.82 per share

- 2020-12: $7.87 per share

- 2021-01: $10.17 per share

- 2021-02: $9.41 per share

- 2021-03: $5.61 per share

- 2021-04: $6.15 per share

- 2021-05: $6.84 per share

- 2021-06: $6.66 per share

- 2021-07: $5.51 per share

- 2021-08: $6.33 per share

- 2021-09: $4.90 per share

- 2021-10: $4.59 per share

- 2021-11: $3.90 per share

- 2021-12: $3.14 per share

- 2022-01: $2.19 per share

- 2022-02: $2.46 per share

- 2022-03: $2.00 per share

- 2022-04: $1.95 per share

- 2022-05: $1.40 per share

- 2022-06: $3.25 per share

- 2022-07: $2.54 per share

- 2022-08: $2.97 per share

- 2022-09: $3.61 per share

- 2022-10: $4.79 per share

- 2022-11: $4.24 per share

- 2022-12: $7.00 per share

- 2023-01: $4.93 per share

- 2023-02: $4.20 per share

- 2023-03: $4.33 per share

- 2023-04: $3.99 per share

- 2023-05: $3.96 per share

- 2023-06: $3.64 per share

- 2023-07: $4.37 per share

- 2023-08: $4.35 per share

- 2023-09: $5.75 per share

- 2023-10: $5.38 per share

- 2023-11: $5.31 per share

- 2023-12: $5.05 per share

- 2024-01: $4.32 per share

- 2024-02: $4.81 per share

- 2024-03: $6.17 per share

- 2024-04: $4.93 per share

- 2024-05: $6.18 per share

- 2024-06: $4.99 per share

- 2024-07: $6.61 per share

- 2024-08: $5.74 per share

- 2024-09: $8.20 per share

- 2024-10: $13.71 per share

- 2024-11: $15.10 per share

- 2024-12: $12.37 per share

- 2025-01: $11.57 per share

- 2025-02: $10.57 per share

- 2025-03: $8.08 per share

- 2025-04: $7.72 per share

- 2025-05: $6.01 per share

- 2025-06: $6.50 per share

- 2025-07: $8.10 per share

- 2025-08: $9.60 per share

- 2025-09: $7.32 per share

- 2025-10: $9.04 per share

- 2025-11: $7.76 per share

- 2025-12: $17.00 per share

- 2026-01: $12.94 per share

- 2026-02: $13.93 per share

- 2026-03: $7.25 per share

- 2026-04: $7.06 per share

- 2026-05: $6.58 per share

- 2026-06: $5.81 per share

- 2026-07: $5.51 per share

- 2026-08: $4.90 per share

- 2026-09: $3.70 per share

- 2026-10: $3.19 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

Prior published observations retained from 2026-10-15T06:39:04.564Z where newer inputs omit a numeric field or fiscal period.

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1631574/000119312526073472/wve-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-26.

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): 10,278,115 WVE shares; USD 59,716,000 reported position value; 0.54% of portfolio; add; quarter 2026 Q2.

# WVE — Wave Life Sciences Ltd.

Held by 1 investor · USD 59,716,000 total · 2026 Q2 · reported price USD 5.81 (split-adjusted).
Page: https://gigainvestors.com/s/WVE

## Holders (2026 Q2)

| Investor | Value | % of their portfolio | This quarter |
|---|---:|---:|---|
| Lee Ainslie (https://gigainvestors.com/mc) | USD 59,716,000 | 0.5% | add +1.15% |

## Total held by quarter

- 2021 Q1: USD 17,296,758 · 1 holder · USD 5.61
- 2021 Q2: USD 20,566,952 · 1 holder · USD 6.66
- 2021 Q3: USD 15,647,606 · 1 holder · USD 4.90
- 2021 Q4: USD 17,563,241 · 1 holder · USD 3.14
- 2022 Q1: USD 11,186,778 · 1 holder · USD 2.00
- 2022 Q2: USD 25,366,962 · 1 holder · USD 3.25
- 2022 Q3: USD 28,176,841 · 1 holder · USD 3.61
- 2022 Q4: USD 49,683,648 · 1 holder · USD 7.00
- 2023 Q1: USD 28,564,049 · 1 holder · USD 4.33
- 2023 Q2: USD 24,012,272 · 1 holder · USD 3.64
- 2023 Q3: USD 37,917,334 · 1 holder · USD 5.75
- 2023 Q4: USD 42,661,410 · 1 holder · USD 5.05
- 2024 Q1: USD 47,435,447 · 1 holder · USD 6.17
- 2024 Q2: USD 38,270,111 · 1 holder · USD 4.99
- 2024 Q3: USD 82,389,664 · 1 holder · USD 8.20
- 2024 Q4: USD 102,191,564 · 1 holder · USD 12.37
- 2025 Q1: USD 66,754,399 · 1 holder · USD 8.08
- 2025 Q2: USD 53,700,940 · 1 holder · USD 6.50
- 2025 Q3: USD 61,428,386 · 1 holder · USD 7.32
- 2025 Q4: USD 157,764,029 · 1 holder · USD 17.00
- 2026 Q1: USD 73,670,143 · 1 holder · USD 7.25
- 2026 Q2: USD 59,716,000 · 1 holder · USD 5.81