New York, May 29, 2026, 11:03 (EDT)
Evogene Ltd. shares stayed under $1 on Friday, slipping again in light Nasdaq action. The Israeli computational chemistry firm still needs to get back above that level to meet a Nasdaq listing rule.
The stock slipped about 3.5% to $0.69 in recent trading after opening at $0.707. Just over 1,000 shares changed hands, making the price jumpy on thin volume.
Evogene faces a deadline of Sept. 28 to fix a Nasdaq minimum bid-price issue. The exchange says shares need to close at $1 or higher for ten straight business days. Evogene in April said the deficiency notice didn’t affect trading in its shares on Nasdaq or Tel Aviv.
Evogene is pitching a slimmer business to the market, centered on its ChemPass AI platform for creating small molecules used in drugs and agchem. Shares, though, are stuck near penny-stock level following a soft first-quarter report.
First-quarter revenue at the company dropped to $334,000, SEC filings showed, after $2.34 million last year. Net loss grew to $5.9 million from $3.0 million. Loss per share came in at $0.60 basic and diluted, up from $0.38 a year ago.
Management blamed most of the drop in revenue on weaker Casterra seed sales, and said it’s moving away from some non-core businesses. Lavie Bio shut down at the end of Q1. Biomica licensed out its lead oncology drug. Casterra is now only working in Brazil, according to the company.
Evogene CEO Ofer Haviv told analysts on the earnings call that a major strategic deal is tied to outcomes in agriculture, pharma or tech. Haviv said it will take time for big pharma to come on board, saying it’s “not going to be in the next few quarters.” Still, the company has started private talks with big pharma, he said. Investing
Evogene’s main issue is timing. The company needs more, but its listing clock is already counting down.
Evogene is looking to stand out in the computational drug discovery business, where bigger names like Schrödinger and Recursion Pharmaceuticals are already selling software, data, and AI systems to drug companies. Schrödinger says its platform helps with molecular discovery and design. Recursion calls its Recursion OS an AI platform for drug discovery and development.
Evogene is getting mixed news from inside its own pipeline. AgPlenus, its unit, is still moving herbicide work forward with Corteva, the company said. But AgPlenus and Bayer dropped another herbicide development effort after the target protein fell short on product criteria.
Evogene faces a clear risk if its stock stays under $1. The company might need to do a reverse stock split just to get the price up, a move that cuts the share count but does nothing for the business. Holders could see pressure from delayed partnership deals, higher losses, or a new equity raise.
Investors this week will probably focus less on overall biotech trends and more on specific news: any new partnerships, updates on cash, developments in Brazil seed trials, and whether there’s enough volume for the stock’s price changes to count.
