Infinity (INFI) Incurs In-Line Loss In Q1, Maintains View

Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INFI) reported a loss of 18 cents per share in first-quarter 2018, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company had reported a loss of 21 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Since Infinity does not have any approved product in its portfolio, the company earns revenues in the form of royalties, license and milestone payments as well as research and development (R&D) support fees paid by its partners.

Infinity’s shares have returned 2.5% year to date against the industry’s decline of 2.9%.

Quarter in Detail

In the quarter, R&D expenses increased 38.8% to $5.9 million due to higher clinical development charges for IPI-549.

General and administrative (G&A) expenses were $3.6 million for the quarter, down 43.8% from the year-ago quarter. The decrease was mainly due to a reduction in bonus and stock compensation.

2018 Outlook

Infinity reaffirmed its outlook for 2018. The company expects net loss for 2018 to be in the range of $35-$45 million. The company anticipates year-end cash and cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities balance in the $15-$25 million range. Moreover, Infinity expects that its existing cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities as of Dec 31, 2017 should be adequate to fund the company's capital needs through third-quarter 2019.

Other Updates

Infinity is evaluating IPI-549 as a monotherapy and in combination with Bristol-Myers’ (NYSE:BMY) Opdivo in a phase I study in patients with advanced solid tumors.

The phase I/Ib monotherapy and combination dose escalation components of the study have been completed. Enrollment, which began in 2018, is ongoing for six disease-specific combination expansion cohorts, along with a seventh combination expansion cohort of patients pre-selected for having high baseline blood levels of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs).

The company expects to report data from the monotherapy expansion component and combination dose-escalation component of the study in 2018. The company also expects to report initial data from six disease-specific combination expansion cohorts in 2018.

Further, the company expects to report more mature clinical and translational data (including insights from paired tumor biopsies) from the six disease-specific cohorts and initial data from the cohort of patients pre-selected for having high baseline blood levels of MDSC in the combination expansion component of the study in the second half of 2018.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

Infinity has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same space worth considering are Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) and Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) . Both of them sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Ligand’s earnings per share estimates have moved up from $4.20 to $4.43 for 2018 over the last 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 24.88%. The company’s shares have rallied 14.9% year to date.

Protagonist’s loss estimates narrowed from $1.30 to 66 cents for 2018 and from $1.99 to $1.26 for 2019, over the last 60 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 24.95%.

The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All

Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.

See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>