Bristol-Myers' (BMY) Q2 Earnings Beat, Opdivo Sales Grow

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) BMY reported better-than-expected results for the second quarter of 2021 as blockbuster immuno-oncology drug, Opdivo, returned to growth.

Shares of the company have gained 10.4% year to date against the industry's decline of 1.5%.

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Second-quarter 2021 earnings of $1.93 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.88 and increased from the year-ago quarter’s $1.63.

Total revenues of $11.7 billion also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $11.2 billion and increased 16% from the year-ago period.

Quarterly Details

Revenues increased 14% to $7.4 billion in the United States and 18% outside the country. Ex-U.S. revenues were up 10% when adjusted for foreign exchange impact.

Myeloma drug, Revlimid, along with the erstwhile Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) acquisition, contributed $3.2 billion to the top line and was the top revenue generator for Bristol-Myers. Sales were up 11% for the drug year over year.

Eliquis maintained momentum for the company as sales increased 29% to $2.8 billion. We note that Bristol-Myers has a collaboration agreement with Pfizer PFE for Eliquis.

Sales of immuno-oncology drug, Opdivo, approved for multiple cancer indications, were up 16% year over year to $1.9 billion. Sales returned to growth after declining in the first quarter. Label expansion of the drug in the lucrative indication of lung cancer has boosted sales.

Sales of rheumatoid arthritis drug, Orencia, were up 9% to $814 million.

Another MM drug, Pomalyst posted a strong performance and generated sales of $854 million, up 15% year over year.

Leukemia drug, Sprycel, raked in sales of $541 million, up 6% year over year. Melanoma drug, Yervoy, contributed $510 million to the top line, up 38% year over year.

Abraxane generated sales of $296 million, down 4% year over year.

MM drug, Empliciti, recorded sales of $86 million, down 11% year over year.

New drugs like Reblozyl generated sales of $128 million, while Inrebic generated sales of $16 million. Onureg sales came in at $12 million and Zeposia sales came in at $28 million. CAR T cell therapies Breyanzi sales came in at $17 million and Abecma sales came in at $24 million.

Adjusted research and development (R&D) expenses in the quarter came in at $2.3 billion, up 4%. Adjusted marketing, selling and administrative expenses increased to $1.9 billion from $1.6 billion. Gross margin increased to 79% from 73.4% in the quarter.

2021 Guidance Reiterated

Bristol-Myers projects 2021 earnings of $7.35-$7.55 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $7.45 per share.

Key Pipeline Updates

In May, the FDA approved Opdivo for the adjuvant treatment of completely resected esophageal cancer or GEJC with residual pathologic disease in patients who have received neoadjuvant CRT.

The FDA also approved Zeposia (ozanimod) for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

In June, the company announced that the CHMP of the EMA has recommended granting a Conditional Marketing Authorization to Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel; ide-cel) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior therapies.

In June, Bristol-Myers entered an exclusive global strategic collaboration agreement with Eisai for the co-development and co-commercialization of MORAb-202, an antibody drug conjugate.

In May, the company entered an agreement with Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) AGEN, whereby Bristol-Myers will be granted a global exclusive license to Agenus’ proprietary bispecific antibody program, AGEN1777, that blocks TIGIT and a second undisclosed target.

Our Take

Bristol-Myers’ performance in the second quarter of 2021 was encouraging as Opdivo sales returned to growth. Key drugs, Revlimid and Eliquis, also maintained momentum for the company. The pipeline progress has been impressive too and strategic collaborations will further strengthen the pipeline. The approval of new drugs adds a new stream of revenues, which should boost growth in the coming quarters.

Bristol Myers Squibb Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Bristol Myers Squibb Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Bristol Myers Squibb Company Quote

Bristol-Myers currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the same space is Repligen (NASDAQ:RGEN) Corporation RGEN, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Earnings estimates for Repligen for 2021 are up 5 cents in the past 60 days. The stock is up 23.3% in the year so far.

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