Shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals bounded off their 50-day line Thursday after the biotech company reported an unexpected fourth-quarter profit and better-than-expected sales.
The company launched its nasal epinephrine spray, Neffy, in September. Since then, the drug has generated $7.3 billion in sales, narrowly topping expectations for $7.1 billion. But total December-quarter sales were $86.6 million, crushing forecasts for $5.7 million, according to FactSet.
Most of those sales stemmed from collaboration revenue and supply agreements. Just $6.7 million came from Neffy, the emergency allergic reaction treatment.
Still, on today's stock market, ARS Pharmaceuticals stock surged 22.8%, closing at 14.31. Shares leaped off their 50-day line, MarketSurge shows.
ARS Pharmaceuticals Has A First-Of-Its-Kind Drug
Neffy is a first-of-its-kind drug. Other emergency epinephrine-based allergic reaction treatments are injections — like EpiPen from Viatris. But Neffy is a spray.
"We remain positive on neffy's potential growth trajectory in 2025, as we continue to see multiple tailwinds for the U.S. launch that might still be underappreciated by investors at these stock levels," Leerink Partners analyst Roanna Ruiz said in a recent report.
She notes Neffy is winning "broad and favorable" insurance coverage, there's growing interest for "convenient, pain-free, no-needle epinephrine," the company is pursuing high-volume avenues for Neffy among first responders, airlines and in schools, and ARS is planning a direct-to-consumer campaign to start in May.
The latter will allow ARS Pharmaceuticals to take advance of back-to-school prescribing.
"All in, we think SPRY is poised for a significant revenue growth year in 2025 for neffy, and its compelling profile should help it disrupt the overall epinephrine autoinjector market as well," she said.
Ruiz has an outperform rating on ARS shares.
Unexpected Earnings
Notably, ARS Pharmaceuticals came up with earnings of 51 cents per share in the fourth quarter, reversing from a year-earlier loss of 7 cents. Analysts projected a 24-cent loss.
ARS didn't outline sales expectations for 2025. The company said it had $314 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at the end of 2024 and expects its financial position to "support its operating plans for at least the next three years."
Analysts polled by FactSet project ARS will generate $205.3 million in sales this year, with $174.2 million of that coming from Neffy. All six analysts rate ARS Pharmaceuticals stock with buy ratings.
Follow Allison Gatlin on X/Twitter at @AGatlin_IBD.
