Mannkind (MNKD) Q3 Earnings Beat, Inks Deal With Sanofi

MannKind Corp (NASDAQ:MNKD) reported earnings of 26 cents per share in the third quarter of 2016, as against a loss of 8 cents in the prior-year quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was a loss of 6 cents.

In April, MannKind regained the rights to develop and commercialize Afrezza, the company’s only product, following the termination of a license agreement with Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) . MannKind began distributing the product during the week of Jul 25.

In the third quarter, following the termination of the Sanofi license agreement, MannKind recognized certain items related to the collaboration that was previously deferred.

In the quarter, MannKind recognized total revenue of $162.4 million, which included $161.8 million in net revenue from the Sanofi collaboration, relating to previously deferred prior-period activities. Commercial sales of Afrezza generated $0.6 million in the quarter. In third-quarter 2015, the company did not generate any revenues.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate was $2.0 million.

Also, of the previously deferred costs from the collaboration, $22.7 million were recognized in the third quarter. This included $13.5 million of Afrezza’s manufacturing cost for products sold to Sanofi in 2015, and $9.2 million for a change in estimate in the recognized loss on purchase commitments due to the sale of raw insulin to Sanofi.

Quarter in Detail

Research and development expenses decreased 38.2% year over year to $3.9 million following a reduction in force along with curtailing certain research and development projects.

General and administrative expenses were up 13.7% from the year-ago quarter to $13.1 million due to increased costs for the support of sales and marketing of Afrezza.

Sanofi Agreement

MannKind and Sanofi entered into an agreement per which the latter forgave Mannkind of the entire loan ($71.6 million) and terminated the associated note and security agreement. Also, MannKind has been released from its obligation to pay $0.5 million in previously uncharged costs related to the collaboration.

Sanofi will purchase $10.2 million worth of insulin from MannKind in early December. Further, Sanofi will pay an additional $30.6 million in cash to MannKind in early January, cancelling and settling MannKind’s insulin put agreement without it having to deliver any further insulin.

The agreement improved MannKind’s liquidity by over a $130 million, thereby significantly boosting its financial position. This can help it to increase investments to grow Afrezza sales faster. MannKind expects its current financial resources to carry it through the third quarter of 2017. Shares of the company rose almost 9% in response.

MANNKIND CORP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

MannKind currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A couple of better-ranked stocks in the healthcare sector include Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INFI) and Anika Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ANIK) . Anika sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Stong Buy) while Infinity holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Infinity’s loss estimates narrowed from $3.84 to $3.79 for 2016 over the last 60 days. The company posted positive surprises in the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 67.62%.

Anika’s earnings estimates increased from $1.96 to $2.06 for 2016 and from $2.03 to $2.09 for 2017 over the last 60 days. The company posted positive surprises in the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 33.14%. Its share price has gained 14.2% year to date.

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