When it comes to gene-editing companies on the cutting edge, Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BEAM) is keen to be one of the leaders. While it's a bit of a laggard in terms of its pipeline's maturity compared to a few of its competitors, few would claim that its technology platform is unimpressive. Plus, it's collaborating with industry leaders like Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

But is the stock going to drive a lot of growth in your portfolio, or leave you holding the bag with massive losses for years? As it turns out, this investment could easily do both of those things, so let's take a closer look.

Like most biotech stocks that haven't yet commercialized any medicines, Beam is living on borrowed time. It needs to successfully move its most promising candidates through clinical trials without running out of money, preferably generating enough exciting data along the way that it won't have trouble finding financing or wealthy collaborators to help it close the loop. Because it's closer to the start of that process than the end, there's a very long road ahead. That could lead to high returns for those who invest in it now, but the risks loom even larger than they would with a more developed business.

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Source Fool.com