Why Bionano Genomics Stock Surged Today and Then Plunged in After-Hours Trading

Shares of Bionano Genomics (NASDAQ: BNGO) rose 8.4% during market hours on Tuesday, only to fall roughly 10% after the market closed. Investors bid up Bionano's stock price after the biotech said on Monday that its Saphyr optical genome mapping (OGM) system could detect structural variants that could make people more likely to get severe forms of COVID-19. Investors were also likely pleased when the results of a study released on Tuesday showed Saphyr could detect all clinically important variants of cancer genomes in people with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), precursors to acute myeloid leukemia (AML).