Specialty Pharma Stocks To Report Q1 On May 10: AGN, IPXL

A major part of the first quarter earnings season is over with results from 87% of the S&P 500 members already out. While Q1 earnings season has come to an end for 6 of the 16 Zacks sectors, the Retail sector stands out as it is the only one at this stage that has more than 50% of its reports still to come.

Meanwhile, a look at overall Q1 results shows that growth was more or less non-existent though actual results were better-than-expected with several companies coming out with positive surprises for both earnings as well as revenues.

According to our weekly Earnings Trends report, Q1 will be the 4th quarter in a row of earnings declines for the index.

However, Medical is one of the sectors witnessing earnings and revenue growth in the first quarter. Our Q1 scorecard shows that 92.5% of the Medical sector has reported results with earnings growth of 8.1% and revenue growth of 10%. Most of the remaining Medical stocks including several specialty pharma companies like Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN) and Impax Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ:IPXL) will be reporting results this week.

Let’s see how these specialty pharma stocks are poised ahead of the scheduled announcements.

Dublin, Ireland-based Allergan is scheduled to report first quarter 2016 results before the opening bell on May 10. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock’s track record is decent with the company beating earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters. However, the combination of Zacks Rank #3 and Earnings ESP of -1.00% makes it difficult to conclusively show that Allergan is likely to beat estimates this quarter. While Allergan’s top as well as bottom line should continue to be driven by the acquisition of Botox-maker Allergan Inc (NYSE:AGN_pa). as well as other acquisitions, Namenda IR is facing generic competition (Read more: Allergan Q1 Earnings: Will the Stock Disappoint?).

Allergan is looking to complete the sale of its generics business to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TEVA) in June. On the first quarter call, Allergan intends to provide an update on its plans to simplify company operations post the close of the Teva transaction.

Impax, which has a presence in both the generics and branded markets, is also scheduled to report first quarter 2016 results on May 10, before the market opens.

This Zacks Rank #3 stock has a mixed track record with the company beating earnings estimates in two of the last four quarters and missing in the other two. However, our proven model shows that Impax is likely to beat earnings because it has the right combination of two key ingredients – Earnings ESP of +8.89% and Zacks Rank #3.

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