Harmony Biosciences crushed Wall Street's second-quarter expectations Tuesday, citing a growing number of narcolepsy patients on its key drug, and the biotech stock surged.
During the quarter, the narcolepsy treatment called Wakix generated $107 million in sales, rising 45% on a year-over-year basis. That beat expectations for $100.7 million, Needham analyst Ami Fadia said in a report to clients.
Mizuho Securities analyst Graig Suvannavejh noted Harmony achieved the strong Wakix sales number by adding roughly 400 new patients in the quarter. That brings the total number of Wakix patients up to about 4,300, he said in his note to clients.
"We head into the morning conference call confident in Harmony's ability to commercially execute as they have rebounded from last quarter with $107 million in sales and 4,300 average patients on Wakix this quarter," Suvannavejh said.
In response, the biotech stock soared 12.6% to close at 55.42 on the stock market today.
Biotech Stock: Earnings Lag
Harmony also earned 39 cents per share. Despite climbing 61% year over year, that lagged views for 43-47 cents a share, according to Needham analyst Fadia. She noted higher-than-expected operating expenses and tax income led to lighter earnings.
Still, she also has a buy rating and a 60 price target on the biotech stock.
The company also laid out an agreement with Bioprojet, the French biotech company where the drug behind Wakix was first discovered. The companies will work together to develop new uses for the same drug.
Tuesday's move put Harmony stock above a buy zone, according to MarketSmith.com. The biotech stock broke out of a cup-with-handle base and a buy point at 47.21. Shares also have a strong Relative Strength Rating of 97 out of a best-possible 99. This puts Harmony stock among the top 3% of all stocks in terms of 12-month performance, according to IBD Digital.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
