Health and Healthcare

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly of Biogen's Q3

Chris Lange

Published: October 21, 2020 9:50 am

When Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) reported its third-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Wednesday, the firm said that it had $8.84 in earnings per share (EPS) and $3.38 billion in revenue. Analysts had expected $8.13 in EPS and revenue of $3.35 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $9.17 on $3.6 billion in revenue.

During this past quarter, Biogen made huge strides in terms of its Alzheimer’s disease treatment. In October, the company submitted a marketing authorization application to the European Medicines Agency for the review of aducanumab, an investigational treatment for Alzheimer’s.

Separately, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a Biologics License Application for aducanumab in August. The application was granted a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date on March 7, 2021. The FDA has said that it plans to act early on this application under an expedited review.

In terms of its segments, the company reported as follows:

• Multiple sclerosis revenues, including $272 million in royalties on the sales of Ocrevus, decreased 4% from the prior year to $2.26 billion.
• Spinraza revenues decreased 10% year over year to $495 million.
• Biosimilars revenues increased by 13% to $208 million.
• Other revenues increased 15% from the prior year to $126 million.

At the end of the quarter, Biogen had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling approximately $4.59 billion and approximately $7.43 billion in notes payable.

Looking ahead, Biogen issued guidance calling for EPS in the range of $32.50 to $33.50 and revenue in the range of $13.2 billion to $13.4 billion for the 2020 full year. Note that this was a big step back for guidance, as it previously had called for EPS in the range of $34.00 to $36.00 and revenue between $13.8 billion and $14.2 billion. Analysts so far expect $34.77 in EPS and $13.83 billion in revenue.

Biogen traded down 1.6% early Wednesday to $262.98, in a 52-week range of $257.60 to $374.99. The consensus price target is $305.04.