AMAG Q1 Loss Wider Than Expected, Revenues Lag Estimates

AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAG) incurred loss from continuing operations of $3.32 per share in the first quarter of 2019 (excluding restructuring expenses) compared with a loss of $1.59 reported in the year-ago quarter. Moreover, the figure was wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 55 cents.

Quarterly revenues came in at $75.8 million, down approximately 35.4% from $117.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The top line also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $91 million.

Shares of AMAG have declined 3.8% year to date against the industry’s growth of 3.4%.

Quarter in Detail

Makena sales came in at $31.3 million, down 65.2% year over year due to the mid-2018 entry of generic competition to the Makena IM product and IM supply constraints. The drug’s sales were also impacted by a number of non-recurring charges. Nevertheless, the company is encouraged by the strong underlying demand for the subcutaneous auto-injector, and the progress made to replace its previous primary supplier of Makena IM with new inventory from two suppliers in the second quarter of 2019.

Combined sales of Feraheme and MuGard amounted to $40.1 million, up almost 59% year over year. Intrarosa generated sales of $4.4 million compared with $2.20 million in the year-ago quarter.

Operating expenses including cost of product sales were $193.5 million, down 15% from the year-earlier quarter.

Discontinued Operations

As a result of the sale of CBR, AMAG paid $475 million of senior notes, eliminating cash interest expenses of approximately $40 million per year. CBR has been classified under discontinued operations for accounting purposes.

2019 Outlook

Due to the expected return of Makena IM supply in the second quarter of 2019, continued strong underlying demand for the SC auto-injector, impressive performance from Feraheme and encouraging leading indicators from our Intrarosa direct-to-consumer campaign, AMAG reaffirmed its guidance for 2019. The company expects full-year revenues of $365-$415 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 revenues stands at $364.01 million.

Other Updates

Further, in January 2019, AMAG acquired Connecticut-based privately held Perosphere Pharmaceuticals Inc., which will add the latter’s investigational candidate, ciraparantag, to its portfolio. This move will strengthen the company’s expertise in hematology pipeline.

AMAG also announced that the FDA has accepted the new drug application (NDA) filling for Vyleesi and has set an action date of Jun 23, 2019. The candidate is being evaluated for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in pre-menopausal women. An approval of this candidate will be a big boost to the company, as it caters to a huge unmet medical need for women. On approval, AMAG plans to launch Vyleesi in the second half of 2019.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

AMAG currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks are Fibrocell Science Inc. (NASDAQ:FCSC) , Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) and Genmab A/S GNMSF. All the stocks carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Fibrocell’s loss per share estimates has narrowed from $2.68 to $1.15 for 2019 and from $2.55 to 97 cents for 2020 in the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in two of the trailing four quarters, the average being 28.30%.

Ligand’s earnings per share estimates have increased from $28.72 to $29.14 for 2019 and from 24 cents to 69 cents for 2020 in the past 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters, the average being 37.44%.

Genmab’s earnings per share estimates have increased from $2.69 to $2.79 for 2019 and from $4.91 to $5.08 for 2020 in the past 60 days.

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