La Jolla, CA-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) is a biotechnology company with a focus on drug discovery, reformulation and partnering. Ligand’s Captisol formulation technology has allowed it to enter into several licensing deals with companies like Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Novartis among others and generate royalties. Ligand generates revenues in the form of royalties, license and milestone payments and sale of Captisol material.
In Jan 2016, Ligand acquired OMT, Inc. in a deal valued at about $178 million. The acquisition has added an antibody-generating platform, OmniAb, to the company’s technology portfolio.
In this scenario, investor focus remains on the company’s major pipeline assets apart from the usual top-and bottom-line numbers.
Ligand has an impressive earnings track record with the company surpassing expectations in each of the last four quarters delivering an average positive surprise of 44.33%.
Currently, Ligand 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: Ligand’s second-quarter 2016 earnings surpassed expectations -- the company reported EPS of 30 cents (including stock-based compensation expense) while our consensus called for EPS of 22 cents.
Revenues: Revenues in the reported quarter increased 6% from the year-ago period to $19.5 million.
Key Stats: Royalty revenues increased from the year-ago period reflecting higher royalties from Promacta and Kyprolis.
The company continues to expect total revenues of $115 million - $119 million in 2016 and earnings per share of $3.41 - $3.46. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is $2.72 per share on revenues of $116.8 million.
Second half total revenues are expected in the range of $66 million - $70 million, while earnings per share are expected in the range of $1.94 - $1.99.
Check back later for our full write up on this LGND earnings report later!
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LIGAND PHARMA-B (LGND): Free Stock Analysis Report
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Zacks Investment Research