Yahoo Finance United Therapeutics (UTHR) Q1 Earnings Top, Tyvaso Drives Sales
United Therapeutics‘ UTHR first-quarter 2024 earnings of $6.17 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.63. Earnings rose 27% year over year on the back of higher product sales.
Revenues were $677.7 million, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $628 million. Revenues rose 34% year over year, driven by meaningful growth of all key products — Tyvaso, Orenitram, Remodulin and Unituxin.
Quarter in Detail
United Therapeutics markets four products for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) — Remodulin, Tyvaso, Adcirca and Orenitram. It also markets Unituxin for treating pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma.
Tyvaso sales totaled $372.5 million, up 56% year over year. Tyvaso dry powder inhalation (DPI) recorded sales of $227.5 million, up 96% year over, while sales from nebulized Tyvaso were $145 million, up 21%. Tyvaso DPI is a drug-device product that is less time-consuming to administer, more mobile and convenient than the nebulized Tyvaso Inhalation Solution and is approved for PAH and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD) indications. Nebulized Tyvaso is also approved for PAH and PH-ILD. Tyvaso sales beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $361 million and our model estimate of $351.1 million.
Sales of Tyvaso DPI were driven by higher volumes and increased commercialization utilization of the drug due to the implementation of the Medicare Part D provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA. On the call, the company said that PH-ILD was now roughly a $1 billion indication for Tyvaso.
Sales of nebulized Tyvaso rose due to easy comparison with the year-ago quarter. The year-ago revenues of nebulized Tyvaso included an inventory destocking by distributors that did not occur during the first quarter of 2024.
Remodulin (including Remunity Pump) sales rose 5% year over year to $128.0 million, while Orenitram sales rose 20% year over year to $106.2 million.
Unituxin sales rose 19% year over year to $58.4 million. Adcirca sales were $6.4 million, down 12% year over year.
Shares of United Therapeutics were up almost 9% on May 1 due to the strong sales performance.
The stock has risen 11.5% in the past year against the industry’s 11.9% decrease.
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Research and development expenses were $104.1 million in the quarter, up 26% year over year. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 65% to $144.4 million in the quarter.
Pipeline & Other Update
United Therapeutics’ key phase III pipeline programs include TETON 1 (conducted in the United States and Canada) and TETON 2 (rest of the world) phase III studies of nebulized Tyvaso in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (“IPF”). If the drug is approved in the IPF indication, management expects Tyvaso sales to exceed the drug’s sales in the PAH indication. United Therapeutics is also conducting a phase III study to evaluate Tyvaso in patients with another type of pulmonary fibrosis called progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF). The study is called TETON PPF.
Enrollment is also ongoing in the ADVANCE OUTCOMES study on oral ralinepag for PAH.
In March, United Therapeutics announced a new accelerated share repurchase program (ASR). Through the ASR, United Therapeutics expects that Citibank will repurchase $1 billion of its shares through the end of the third quarter of this year.
Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
United Therapeutics currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
United Therapeutics Corporation Price and Consensus
United Therapeutics Corporation price-consensus-chart | United Therapeutics Corporation Quote
Some other top-ranked stocks in the healthcare sector are ANI Pharmaceuticals ANIP, Corcept Therapeutics CORT and Ligand Pharmaceuticals LGND, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ANI Pharmaceuticals has improved from $4.25 per share to $4.44 per share for 2024. For 2025, earnings estimates have improved from $4.83 per share to $5.04 per share in the past 60 days. In the past year, shares of ANIP have risen 75.1%.
Earnings of ANI Pharmaceuticals beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, delivering a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 109.06 %.
In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Corcept Therapeutics has remained stable at 99 cents for 2024. For 2025, earnings estimates have improved from $1.25 per share to $1.33 per share in the past 60 days. In the past year, shares of CORT have risen 6.7%.
Earnings of Corcept Therapeutics beat estimates in three of the last four quarters while missing in one, delivering a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 18.99%.
In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ligand Pharmaceuticals has improved from $4.42 per share to $4.56 per share. For 2025, earnings estimates have improved from $5.11 per share to $5.27 per share in the past 60 days. In the past year, shares of LGND have declined 4.3%
Earnings of Ligand Pharmaceuticals beat estimates in each of the last four quarters. LGND delivered a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 84.81%.
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