Sales of Vertex Pharmaceuticals‘ (VRTX) bread-and-butter cystic fibrosis treatment missed some estimates on Monday and VRTX stock tumbled.
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During the September quarter, revenue from Vertex’s Trikafta came in at $2.27 billion. RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams says that missed his view for $2.33 billion. But it was in line with the estimate from Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond.
Other cystic fibrosis drugs brought in $209.2 million in sales, definitively missing forecasts for $228 million to $229 million, according to the analysts’ reports.
Bearishly, Vertex unexpectedly scrapped development of a potential liver disease treatment after it caused some patients in early-stage testing to develop a rash. The company also says it needs to run further lab and animal testing of a gene-editing treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy before testing it in people.
“A reasonably solid quarter, acknowledging that any slight miss could have an outsized impact given the stock move,” RBC’s Abrahams said. “That being said, we believe the biggest focus remains squarely on the late-stage pipeline programs with upcoming readouts, which appear to remain on track.”
In after-hours trading on today’s stock market, VRTX stock dipped 1.9% near 378.50. Vertex is an IBD Tech Leader.
VRTX Stock: Sales, Profit Climb Higher
During the quarter, Vertex earned an adjusted $4.08 per share on $2.48 billion in sales. Profit inched ahead 1.7% while sales climbed 6.4%.
Earnings beat projections for $3.65 a share, according to FactSet. Sales were mixed, however, topping the FactSet-polled analysts’ consensus view for $2.33 billion. Abrahams, on the other hand, expected about $2.5 billion, while Piper Sandler’s Raymond had estimates at $2.5 billion to $2.51 billion.
Despite the mixed sales report, Vertex raised its outlook for the year. The company now expects its cystic fibrosis treatments to generate $9.85 billion in sales, above prior guidance for $9.7 billion to $9.8 billion.
For total full year results, VRTX stock analysts project earnings of $13.59 a share and $9.2 billion in sales.
Follow Allison Gatlin on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @IBD_AGatlin.
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