Alkermes plc. (NASDAQ:ALKS) reported adjusted earnings of 83 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared with earnings of 34 cents in the year-ago quarter. Earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents.
The company’s revenues of $412.7 million in the quarter increased 30.7% from the year-ago quarter. The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $408 million. The company’s proprietary products — Vivitrol and Aristada — drove revenues.
Alkermes’ shares have plunged 45.7% in the past year compared with the industry’s decline of 3.1%.
Factors Impacting Q4
Manufacturing and royalty revenues from J&J’s (NYSE:JNJ) drugs — Risperdal Consta, Invega Sustenna/Xeplion and InvegaTrinza/Trevicta — were $107.3 million, down 35.9% year over year. Total revenues also included a $150-million milestone payment from Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) related to the FDA approval of Vumerity, of which $144.8 million were recorded as license revenues and $5.2 million were recorded as research and development revenues.
Vivitrol sales improved about 10.7% year over year to $92.8 million.
Aristada sales came in at $56.7 million, up 16.3% year over year.
Research and development (R&D) expenses were $198.2 million, up 81.8% year over year.
Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were $154.5 million, up 9.4% year over year.
2019 Results
The company recorded earnings of 71 cents per share compared with 63 cents in 2018.
The company’s revenues increased 7% year over year to $1.17 billion.
Restructuring Update
During the quarter, Alkermesimplementeda strategic restructuring to reduce cost structure and, in turn, accelerate and drive sustained profitability. The company implemented a restructuring design to deliver savings of about $150 million in 2020 with about one-third related to R&D and two-thirds driven by SG&A.
2020 Guidance
The company expects total revenues of $1.03-$1.08 billion. The midpoint of the guided range is $1.06 billion, which is below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.07 billion.
Alkermes expects Vivitrol net sales of $340-$355 million and Aristada net sales of $220-$235 million.
The company expects R&D expenses of $405-$430 million. SG&A expenses are expected to be $535-$560 million.
The company expects adjusted earnings per share of $25-$43 cents, based on a weighted average share count of approximately 161 million shares outstanding. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 earnings is pegged at 45 cents.
Pipeline Update
The company submitted anew drug application to the FDA for ALKS 3831 for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. The NDA was also accepted by the FDA.
During the quarter, the companyacquired Rodin Therapeutics, building on its experience in CNS diseases and expanding its development efforts to a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders.
Zacks Rank and Stock to Consider
Currently, Alkermes is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock.
A better-ranked stock in the biotech sector is Guardant Health Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) , which carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Guardant’s loss per share estimates have narrowed from $1.18 to $1.13 for 2020 in the past 90 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in the trailing four quarters by 39.21%, on average.
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