Alexion beats Q3 estimates; updates guidance

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) reported revenues and earnings for the third quarter of 2018 that came in ahead of expectations. Shares rose 3.2% in premarket hours on Wednesday.

Total revenues grew 20% to $1.03 billion from the same period last year. Net income rose to $330.9 million or $1.47 per share compared to $78 million or $0.35 per share in the prior-year quarter. Reported earnings benefited from a decrease in restructuring and other expenses during the quarter. Adjusted EPS grew 40% to $2.02.

Net product sales rose 19% to $1.02 billion, helped by sales and volume increases in the Soliris, Strensiq and Kanuma product lines. The three products also delivered sales increases across all geographies. During the quarter, Alexion benefited from a reduction in expenses.

Alexion revised its guidance for the full year of 2018. The company now expects total revenues to be in the range of $4.02 billion to $4.05 billion versus the prior range of $3.98 billion to $4.01 billion. On a GAAP basis, Alexion expects earnings to come in between a loss of $0.08 per share to earnings of $0.26 per share. This compares to the previous EPS range of $1.25 to $1.50.

Adjusted EPS is expected to be in the range of $7.45 to $7.60 versus the previous range of $7.00 to $7.15. Adjusted operating margin is now expected to be 51% to 52% versus the prior outlook of 49% to 50%.

In September, Alexion announced plans to acquire biotechnology company Syntimmune for $1.2 billion. The deal, which is set to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, is expected to boost Alexion’s pipeline and diversify its rare disease portfolio.

Earlier this month, Alexion also announced a collaboration with Dicerna to discover and develop RNA interference therapies for complement-mediated diseases.

Get access to timely and accurate verbatim transcripts that are published within hours of the event.