Gilead stock surged to a buy zone Wednesday after the company obliterated fourth-quarter forecasts and issued an upbeat profit outlook for 2025.
During the three months ended Dec. 31, Gilead Sciences earned an adjusted $1.90 per share on $7.57 billion in total revenue. Earnings jumped about 10.5% and easily beat forecasts for $1.74 a share. Sales rose 6% and topped projections for $7.15 billion, according to FactSet.
The beat largely came from Biktarvy, an HIV treatment and Gilead's single biggest moneymaker. The drug brought in $3.8 billion in sales, growing 21% to beat the forecast for $3.47 billion.
Next up, Wall Street is closely watching lenacapavir, a potential HIV prevention drug that Gilead could launch in the third quarter. During the fourth quarter, the U.S. pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, market grew 16%. This bodes well for the lenacapavir launch, Needham analyst Joseph Stringer said in a report. Gilead's Descovy owns about 40% of the PrEP market.
Gilead stock broke out of a flat base with a buy point at 98.90 on Feb. 3. Shares later slipped below their entry, but not far enough to trigger a sell rule. On the stock market today, Gilead stock jumped 7.5% to 103.31. That put shares narrowly inside their buy zone, which runs up to 103.85.
Gilead Stock: Veklury Is The Only Pockmark
The only drawback in Gilead's report was Veklury. Sales of the Covid treatment plummeted 53% to $337 million due to lower hospitalizations from Covid, particularly in the U.S. Sales lagged calls for $386 million. Excluding Veklury, total revenue climbed 8%.
In addition to strong Biktarvy sales, Gilead reported $616 million in sales of Descovy. Sales of the HIV drug grew 21% and handily beat expectations for $566 million.
Revenue from liver disease treatments rose 4%, while revenue from Gilead's cell therapies for cancer treatment edged 5% higher to $488 million. The latter topped forecasts for $476 million. Trodelvy, another cancer drug, brought in $355 million, growing 19% and beating calls for $324 million.
Gilead also issued upbeat guidance for 2025. The company expects to earn $7.70 to $8.10 per share on $28.2 billion to $28.6 billion in product sales. The midpoints of the outlook beat Gilead stock analysts' forecasts for $7.61 and $28.35 billion, respectively.
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