Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) Misses On Q3 Earnings

Carlsbad, CA-based Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) is a drug discovery and development company that focuses on the development of products using ribonucleic acid (RNA)-based technologies. The company discovers new drugs and out-licenses them to partners for license fees, milestone payments, and royalties. Ionis has partnership agreements with several leading health care companies like Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) and GlaxoSmithKline among others.

The company has a deep pipeline with several candidates in mid or final stages of development. Some promising candidates include IONIS-TTRRx (transthyretin amyloidosis), nusinersen (spinal muscular atrophy in infants and children) and volanesorsen (familial chylomicronemia syndrome and familial partial lipodystrophy) among others.

In this scenario, investor focus remains on late-stage pipeline candidates and their commercial potential apart from the usual top-and bottom-line numbers.

Ionis’ track record has been mixed so far. Over the four trailing quarters, the company posted an average negative earnings surprise of 4.59%, having beaten estimates in two quarters and missed the same twice.

Currently, Ionis has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) but that could definitely change following the company’s earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:

Earnings: Ionis missed on earnings expectations. Our consensus called for EPS of 7 cents, and the company reported EPS of 6 cents.

Revenues: Ionis posted revenues of $110.9 million, almost in line with our consensus estimate of $111 million.

Key Stats: Ionis continues to progress with its pipeline and earn milestone payments for the same. Ionis and partner Biogen announced positive interim data from the phase III CHERISH study on Spinraza, their investigational treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Results from the study were statistically significant and clinically meaningful with a favorable safety profile. Meanwhile, Spinraza is currently under review in both the U.S. and the EU.

Check back for our full write up on earnings report later!

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