Wave Life Sciences, Inc. — financial distress indicators
Financial-health summary
Wave Life Sciences, Inc.'s reported numbers place it in the 'Weak' financial-health band (distress score 55/100). The main indicators are losses in each of the last 3 years, revenue collapse and operations consume cash.
Stress by dimension
Share price — last 12 months
Indicators behind the score
Each red flag shows the evidence from the company’s own filings and the financial or legal principle behind it. Points add to the 0–100 score.
Net income negative in 3 of 3 fiscal years.
Persistent losses erode equity and the capacity to absorb shocks.
Revenue changed -61% year over year.
A >30% sales drop typically breaches leverage covenants and starves fixed-cost coverage.
Operating cash flow negative in 3 of the last 3 years.
A business that cannot fund itself from operations depends on external capital to survive.
Price is -84% from its 52-week high.
Equity markets price distress early; collapses of this size usually reflect fear of wipe-out in a restructuring.
Share count up +23% in a year.
Large issuance usually funds operating losses rather than growth.
Operating margin fell from -60% to -504% in two years.
Sharp margin compression signals loss of pricing power or cost control.
Revenue vs net income
Cash generation
Debt vs cash vs equity
✅ Mitigating factors
- No material mitigating factors found in the available data.
📰 Recent news scan
- GSK (LSE:GSK) Deepens Its Drug Pipeline Through Two Research PartnershipsYahoo Finance · 2026-10-08
- Wave Life Sciences Announces FDA Feedback Supports Registrational Pathway for WVE-006 (RNA Editing) in AATDYahoo Finance · 2026-10-01
- Wave Life Sciences Announces GSK’s Selection of siRNA program to Transition to GSK for Further DevelopmentYahoo Finance · 2026-09-30
- Wave Life Sciences Initiates Phase 2a Combination Trial of WVE-007 (GalNAc-siRNA) with Tirzepatide for ObesityYahoo Finance · 2026-09-23
- Wave Life Sciences to Present at Cantor 2026 Global Healthcare ConferenceYahoo Finance · 2026-09-03
- Wave Life Sciences: A $1 Billion RNA-Medicine Bargain Ripe for Pharma TakeoverYahoo Finance · 2026-08-13
⚖️ U.S. legal pathway — Title 11, U.S. Code
Which chapter would apply?
- Chapter 11 — reorganisation. Management usually stays in control as debtor-in-possession; the automatic stay (§362) halts collection; a plan must meet the best-interests test (§1129(a)(7)) and the absolute priority rule (§1129(b)) — creditors are paid before shareholders, who are frequently wiped out.
- Chapter 7 — liquidation. A trustee sells assets and distributes proceeds by statutory priority (§§507, 726).
- Subchapter V (“Chapter 5”) is a fast track for small-business debtors under a statutory debt cap, but SEC-reporting companies are excluded (§101(51D)) — so it rarely applies to listed companies.
What typically triggers a filing
- Payment default or covenant breach lenders will not waive; a debt maturity that cannot be refinanced.
- Auditor going-concern doubt (ASC 205-40 / PCAOB AS 2415) — often itself a default trigger in loan agreements.
- Creditors can force a case with an involuntary petition (§303) if debts are not paid as they come due.
- Delisting after sustained sub-$1 prices or equity deficits cuts off equity funding.
Transactions shortly before filing can be clawed back (preferences — 90 days, §547; fraudulent transfers — 2 years, §548).
Frequently asked questions
What do Wave Life Sciences, Inc.'s financial-health indicators show?
As of 2026-10-08, Wave Life Sciences, Inc.'s public financial data places it in the 'Weak' band with a distress score of 55/100, driven by losses in each of the last 3 years, revenue collapse and operations consume cash. This is a statistical screen of reported numbers — it does not mean the company is insolvent, has defaulted or will enter insolvency proceedings.
What is Wave Life Sciences, Inc.'s financial distress score?
55/100 ('Weak').
What works in Wave Life Sciences, Inc.'s favour?
No material mitigating factors were found in the available data.
How are shareholders treated if a company enters insolvency?
In a Chapter 11 reorganisation the absolute priority rule pays secured lenders, then unsecured creditors, before shareholders — so existing shares are usually cancelled or heavily diluted. In Chapter 7 the company is liquidated and shareholders rarely recover anything.
Other Pharma & Biotech companies with distress indicators
- ABVC BioPharma, Inc. (ABVC)Very weak 100/100
- AKAN (AKAN)Very weak 100/100
- Endovia Health Sciences, Inc. (EDVA)Very weak 100/100
- Elicio Therapeutics, Inc. (ELTX)Very weak 100/100
- IM Cannabis Corp. (IMCC)Very weak 100/100
- NeuroSense Therapeutics Ltd. (NRSN)Very weak 100/100
Methodology
Score = capped sum of rule-based red flags across seven dimensions (liquidity, solvency, profitability, cash flow, sales trend, market signal, news). Ohlson O-score (1980) gives an accounting-based 1-year failure probability; Merton distance-to-default (Bharath & Shumway 2008) gives a market-implied probability. Financial institutions use a capital-based rule set. Recalculated every trading day from the latest filings, prices and news.