Regeneron stock jumped Tuesday after the biotech giant topped Wall Street's December-quarter calls on the back of its cancer drug Libtayo.
The company also announced a dividend for the first time. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will pay 88 cents per quarter, or $3.52 a year.
"The dividend should attract certain investment funds, which require companies to pay dividends in order to invest," Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger said in a report.
Regeneron stock closed with a 4.5% gain at 697.05.
Regeneron Stock: Earnings, Sales Beat
In total, Regeneron earned an adjusted $12.07 per share on $3.79 billion in sales. Earnings inched ahead 2% while sales climbed 10%. Both measures topped Wall Street's forecast for $11.35 a share and $3.74 billion, respectively.
Regeneron had preannounced $1.19 billion in U.S. sales of eye drug Eylea. The high dose version of Eylea brought in $305 million in U.S. sales. Regeneron's partner, Bayer, records international Eylea sales.
Last week, Dupixent partner Sanofi reported nearly $3.7 billion in sales of eczema and asthma treatment Dupixent. Dupixent sales came in light. Sanofi records global sales of the drug, and Regeneron receives its share of the profits, which it records as collaboration revenue.
Collaboration revenue from Sanofi increased 22% to $1.21 billion in the fourth quarter, while Bayer collaboration revenue was flat at $377 million.
Libtayo Sales Come In Well Ahead
Notably, revenue from cancer drug Libtayo comfortably topped expectations at $367 million, up 50% year over year. Analysts projected $331 million, Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond said in a report. Regeneron records global sales of the drug and pays Sanofi a royalty.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams kept his outperform rating on Regeneron stock.
"We believe that solid additional updates on pipeline progress, reasonably balanced expected spend, strong sales of smaller products, and dividend/buybacks all paint a favorable picture of a company moving in the right direction to prepare appropriately for their next, post-Eylea biosimilar, chapter," he said in a report. "We continue to see shares as undervalued."
