Tag Archives: technology

IBD 50: Ligand Pharma Beats Q1 Estimates, Buys Device Royalties

Ligand Pharmaceuticals ( LGND ), an IBD 50 stock, rose early Wednesday after the small biopharma beat Q1 estimates and announced an acquisition that helped lift its guidance. Ligand reported earnings excluding one-time items of 97 cents a share, more than triple the year-earlier number, beating analysts’ consensus by 30 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue rose 103% to $29.6 million, topping consensus by about $3 million. As described in a recent IBD New America story, Ligand’s business model is based on developing or acquiring technologies used in drug development and partnering with larger biotechs and pharmas that can make them into commercial products. Much of the growth in Q1 revenue came from the timing of milestone payments, along with the January acquisition of Open Monoclonal Technology, which licenses its biotech platform to drug developers. Ligand’s royalty payments grew thanks to the continued ramp of Amgen ’s ( AMGN ) blood-cancer drug Kyprolis and Novartis ’ ( NVS ) low-platelet treatment Promacta. Ligand also said it had agreed to pay $17.5 million for royalties on multiple programs from CorMatrix Cardiovascular, a privately held company that sells devices that help regrow human tissue. Ligand is guaranteed a minimum payment of $2.75 million annually, but says this is expected to double over time as CorMatrix rolls out new products. “CorMatrix’s existing and pipeline medical devices address market opportunities estimated to exceed $1 billion annually,” Ligand said in its press release . Ligand added $2 million to its 2016 revenue guidance, of which $1 million was expected to come from CorMatrix, bringing the range to $115 million to $119 million. That was still on the low side of Wall Street’s average estimate of $118.5 million, but EPS guidance beat Wall Street, at $3.41 to $3.46. Last year, the company made $3.37 a share on $71.9 million in revenue. It also guided 2017 slightly below consensus, with $160 million and EPS of $5.03. Ligand stock was up 2% in early trading on the stock market today , near 122. The stock is No. 18 on the current IBD 50 list of top-performing names over the past 12 months, with a strong Composite Rating of 93 despite somewhat light trading volume.

Zillow Stock Jumps On Revenue Outlook, Litigation Costs Rise

Zillow ( Z ) stock jumped after the online real estate portal reported first-quarter revenue that topped views and raised its full-year, 2016 sales forecast. The Internet company posted a loss of 13 cents a share, excluding items, compared with earnings of 2 cents a share a year earlier. Zillow stock, which has been highly shorted, jumped nearly 13% in premarket trading in the stock market today . The online real estate data provider said quarterly revenue rose 14% from a year earlier to $186 million vs. consensus estimates of $177 million. Seattle-based Zillow forecast second-quarter revenue in a range of $203 million to 208 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had modeled $193 million. Zillow upped full-year 2016 revenue guidance to $830 million at its midpoint, from its earlier forecast of $810 million vs. consensus of $806 million. “ Zillow has meaningful opportunities for upside to both estimates and multiple as it better monetizes the massive, high value audience that it has built around its platform,” said Heath Terry, a Goldman Sachs analyst in a report. “Aggregated unique visitors across Zillow properties reached 156 million in Q1 vs. 124 million in Q4.” Zillow said it expects litigation expenses to reach $50 million to $55 million for the full year, compared with prior expectations of $36 million. It’s involved in litigation with News Corp. ( NWS ) and the National Association of Realtors. “Zillow appears to have pricing power. We have lingering concerns about this name, including valuation, the ultimate total addressable market, and potential fallout from litigation,” said Thomas Champion, an analyst at Cowen & Co. “However, Zillow appears to have re-established a cadence of beat-and-raise results while hitting the seasonally strong period of the year.” Zillow has an IBD Composite Rating of 65 out of a possible 99. IBD’s Internet-Content group is ranked No. 59 out of 197 industry groups.

Forget Allergan: Pfizer Has Its Sights On This Cancer Drugmaker

Less than a month after Pfizer ( PFE ) scrapped its $160 billion takeover of Allergan ( AGN ) over new anti-inversion rules, the drug giant is eyeing a possible bid for cancer biotech Medivation ( MDVN ), Reuters reported late Tuesday. Pfizer has approached Medivation for talks, according to Reuters. That could lead to an offer that would top a $9.3 billion bid for Medivation from France’s Sanofi ( SNY ). Medivation has rejected Sanofi’s $52.50-share bid as undervaluing the company, which is best known for prostate cancer drug Xtandi. Medivation shares have been trading well above that Sanofi offer price, closing down 0.8% to 57.52 on the stock market today. Medivation rose above 60 late Tuesday on the Pfizer report. Pfizer stock rose 2.7% to 33.70 during the regular session, breaking out of a consolidation, after the pharmaceutical king reported its best quarterly earnings per share gain in more than six years. Pfizer’s 32% EPS rise , better than expected, benefited from several one-time factors, including its recent Hospira takeover.