Lantheus Holdings is Thursday's IBD Stock Of The Day. The small player is making a big impact in prostate cancer, and LNTH stock is soaring.
Over two decades ago, Lantheus launched Definity, a heart ultrasound enhancing agent. It followed that with Pylarify in June 2021, an injectable agent that helps doctors identify prostate cancer using a PET scan. Since then, Lantheus' sales have more than doubled.
SVB Securities analyst Rosanna Ruiz says Pylarify has become the "go-to" agent for enhancing PET scan images in prostate cancer detection. Doctors can use Pylarify to help diagnose prostate cancer and detect relapses.
These use cases are key for Lantheus and LNTH stock. There are more than 3.1 million men living with prostate cancer in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.
LNTH Stock Enjoys Earnings Pop
Lantheus stock is on a recent run. LNTH stock gapped higher on Feb. 23 after the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings. Revenue skyrocketed more than 103% to $263.2 million. That was north of expectations for $244.7 million, according to FactSet.
Adjusted profit catapulted 448% to $1.37 per share. LNTH stock analysts projected just 96 cents.
Analysts expect growth to decelerate in the current quarter, however. They call for earnings to rise 32% and for sales to surge 33.5%.
Future growth will benefit from the use of Pylarify to match patients with targeted therapies, SVB's Ruiz said. She notes Novartis makes a treatment called Pluvicto for a specific population of patients. Further, Pylarify has enjoyed growth from its use in hospitals.
One doctor she interviewed said Pylarify is "used about 90% of the time at his institution."
"The (doctor) expects demand for Pylarify to grow over time, and hospital/imaging center capacity could be expanded by Lantheus' growing PET managing facility network, installing more PET/CT machines at imaging centers and increasing patient referrals to these centers," she said.
Ruiz has an outperform rating on LNTH stock.
Highly Rated Stock Breaks Out
Bullishly, Lantheus stock has a Composite Rating of 98 out of a best-possible 99. This means shares rank in the leading 2% of all stocks when it comes to technical and fundamental measures, according to IBD Digital.
LNTH stock also has a strong Relative Strength Rating of 93. This puts their 12-month stock price performance in the top 7% of all stocks.
Shares are also breaking above a buy point, MarketSmith.com shows. In midday trading on the stock market today, Lantheus stock jumped 7.6% on Thursday to close at 78.83. That put shares above an alternate entry at 77.04 out of a cup-with-handle on the weekly chart.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
