Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. ACOR reported adjusted earnings of 43 cents per share in the third quarter of 2017, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents. The company had incurred a loss of 4 cents per share a year ago.
Acorda’s shares have rallied 41.4% so far this year compared with the industry’s 3.3% increase.
Including the impact of stock-based compensation expenses as well as other non-recurring items, the company incurred a loss of 55 cents per share in the reported quarter compared with the year-ago loss figure of 28 cents.
Total revenue came in at $141.1 million, up 4% year over year, mainly owing to increase in net product revenues. However, the top line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $151 million by 6.6%.
Quarter in Detail
The majority of Acorda’s net product revenue was generated by the company’s key drug Ampyra, which raked in sales of $132.6 million in the reported quarter. Revenues grew 3% year over year and inched up marginally by 0.8% sequentially.
Ampyra is marketed in the ex-U.S. markets by Biogen Inc. BIIB under the trade name, Fampyra. Biogen pays royalties to Acorda on the outside U.S. sales. Fampyra royalties were $3.1 million, up 19.2% year over year.
Acorda’s research and development (R&D) expenses decreased 39.7% year over year to $31.3 million. Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses also declined 23.7% to $36.1 million.
Pipeline Updates
The company, along with the third-quarter earning release, announced that it expects to resubmit the new drug application (“NDA”) for its Parkinson’s disease (“PD”) candidate, Inbrija in the fourth quarter of 2017. Note that, in August, the company received a refusal-to-file (“RTF”) letter from the FDA in connection with the NDA for Inbrija.
The FDA deemed the application incomplete after a preliminary review and as a result, the regulatory body wanted additional supporting information to review the application. Subsequently, after having a discussion with the FDA to resolve the issue, the company decided to resubmit the same in the aforementioned period.
Notably, Acorda has deferred its plan to submit regulatory applications for Inbrija in the EU to the first quarter of 2018, which was earlier expected to be submitted by the year-end.
The company also has another late-stage pipeline candidate, tozadenant, in its PD portfolio. The company expects to present top-line data from an ongoing phase III study on the candidate in the first quarter of 2018.
2017 Guidance
The company maintained its Ampyra net sales guidance in the range of $535-$545 million.
The company continues to expect its R&D expenses for 2017 in the range of $160-$170 million
The company lowered its SG&A expenditure to a band of $160-$170 million from $170-$180 million expected previously.
Acorda awaits a positive cash balance in excess of $200 million by the end of 2017.
Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. Quote
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Acorda currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector include Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. LGND and Exelixis, Inc. EXEL. While Ligand sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Exelixis carries a Zacks Rank #2 (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 $3.68 to $3.70 for 2018 over the last 30 days. The company delivered positive earnings surprises in two of the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 6.19%. The share price of the company has surged 40.7% year to date.
Exelixis’ earnings per share estimates have moved up from 62 cents to 64 cents for 2017 over the last 60 days. The company came up with positive earnings surprises in each of the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 543.59%. The share price of the company has soared 74.9% year to date.
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