The first quarter could represent a "high-water mark" for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, an analyst said Wednesday, but REGN stock only inched higher.
U.S. sales of its blockbuster eye-disease treatment, Eylea, narrowly lagged forecasts, but grew by double digits. And collaboration revenue from Sanofi, Regeneron's partner on inflammation drug Dupixent beat expectations, RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said in a report to clients.
But "some one-time factors (Roche Covid payment, Sanofi sales milestone) could make the first quarter the high-water mark for 2022," he said.
REGN stock ended the regular session on today's stock market with a fractional gain, at 660.86.
REGN Stock: Across-The-Board Beat
During the first quarter, adjusted Regeneron earnings climbed 16% to $11.49 per share, beating projections by about $2. Sales grew 17% to $2.97 billion, above the $2.69 billion forecast.
Without Regeneron's Covid antibody cocktail — which Roche sells abroad — sales popped 25% to $2.75 billion. That number was still above total revenue projections.
It's good news for Regeneron and REGN stock. Investors are less focused on Covid vaccines and treatments as the virus becomes endemic. In the U.S., Regeneron's drug can only be used in cases where omicron isn't suspected. As a result, it had no U.S. first-quarter sales.
Outside the U.S., sales of the cocktail were nearly $636 million. Regeneron recorded $216 million in collaboration revenue from Roche. Those numbers were mixed. Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond expected $613 million in sales of the cocktail abroad, but $221 million in collaboration money from Roche.
Still, he kept an overweight rating on REGN stock.
Other Sales Come In Mixed
Other key products were mixed. Cancer treatment Libtayo brought in $79 million in U.S. sales, rising 14% year over year. But those sales lagged more bullish calls for $88 million, Raymond said. But U.S. sales of cholesterol med Praluent met expectations at $34 million, though tumbled 21% year over year, he said. Sanofi records sales of both drugs outside the U.S.
Regeneron also netted a combined $1.23 billion in collaboration revenue from Sanofi, Roche and Bayer. The latter is Regeneron's outside-U. S. partner on Eylea. Sanofi collaboration revenue soared 59% to $415 million. Regeneron also earned a $50 million sales-based milestone from Sanofi for Dupixent.
Abrahams, the RBC analyst, expected just $405 million from the Sanofi collaboration. The "Sanofi collaboration continues to pay off," he said.
He has a sector perform rating and 647 price target on REGN stock, however.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
