Does Biogen Deserve More Credit for Q2 Earnings?

When Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) released its second-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Tuesday, the biotech giant said that it had $5.80 in earnings per share (EPS) and $3.4 billion in revenue. Consensus estimates had called for $5.21 in EPS and revenue of $3.25 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $5.04 and $3.08 billion in revenue.

One of the main highlights from the report was that multiple sclerosis (MS) revenues were $2.3 billion, including roughly $113 million in royalties on the sales of Ocrevus. Also revenue growth was driven principally by Spinraza, which contributed $423 million in global revenues.

In the second quarter of 2018, Biogen repurchased approximately 9.6 million shares of common stock for a total of $2.75 billion.

On the books, Biogen’s cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $4.4 billion at the end of the quarter, down from $6.7 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

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Looking ahead to the 2018 full year, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $24.90 to $25.50 and revenues between $13.0 billion and $13.2 billion. Consensus estimates are $23.97 in EPS and $12.98 billion in revenue.

Michel Vounatsos, Biogen’s CEO, commented:

We continued to execute on our strategy to be the leader in neuroscience, as exemplified by our progress in our growth areas of Alzheimer’s disease, neuromuscular disease and acute neurology. Overall, revenues grew nine percent to a record $3.4 billion in the second quarter. The number of patients treated with our MS therapies globally remained relatively stable compared to last year. We saw an increase of over 20 percent in the number of adult SPINRAZA patients in the U.S. versus last quarter, as we work to increase access and adoption in older patients. Outside the U.S., the pace of reimbursement for SPINRAZA across multiple geographies supported meaningful revenue growth, and we look forward to introducing the therapy to new markets worldwide.

Shares of Biogen were last seen up about 5% at $375.70, with a consensus analyst price target of $369.42 and a 52-week trading range of $249.17 to $383.00.

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