Biogen 4Q profit falls on costs, but tops forecasts

The rating by the firm was issued on January 20, 2016. Its revenue benefited from an increase in wholesale inventory.

Indeed, BIIB was down more than 30% from its mid-2015 price as of Tuesday’s close, and knocking on the door of new 52-weeks lows on concerns Biogen would once again post troubling Tecfidera. “Reiterate Neutral; adjusting estimates, which lowers PT to $293 vs. our prior $307.”, Piper Jaffray’s analyst commented.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) traded negative at $260.24. The company said it had profit of 66 cents per share. The 50-Day Moving Average price is $286.57 and the 200 Day Moving Average price is recorded at $300.28. Biogen has a one year low of $254.00 and a one year high of $480.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.53 billion and a PE ratio of 17.454.

Biogen Inc. said that sales of its top drug, a multiple sclerosis treatment, rose 5.9 percent from the previous quarter, topping analysts’ estimates after a lackluster year and helping the company beat projections of fourth-quarter earnings. That compared to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $4.08 in EPS on revenue of $2.71 billion. Adjusted earnings came to 85 cents per share. Analysts expect that Biogen will post $16.60 EPS for the current year. The average broker rating for the stock now stands at 1.74. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.00, for a total value of $122,157.00.

The treatment, Tecfidera, has been a focus for investors as Biogen’s biggest product and best bet for near-term revenue while the company waits on clinical trials of experimental drugs. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Shares of Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) traded up 5.15% on Friday, reaching $273.26.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $831.6 million in the fourth quarter ended December 31, from $883.5 million a year earlier. Detwiler Fenton Investment Management acquired a new position in Biogen during the fourth quarter valued at $266,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its stake in shares of Biogen by 14.2% in the fourth quarter.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on BIIB. RBC Capital reissued an outperform rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Biogen in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Jefferies Group now has a “Buy” rating and a $322.00 price objective on the stock. The shares have received a hold rating based on the suggestion from 8 analysts in latest recommendations.

A Biogen spokesman declined to clarify whether the company was ruling out further price increases this year. The company now has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $375.73.

Research firm Zacks Investment Research has rated Biogen Inc.

OK, so maybe sales of Biogen Inc (BIIB) multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera aren’t so anemic after all. It also collaborates on the development and commercialization of RITUXAN (rituximab), which is a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and other conditions and share profits and losses for GAZYVA, which is for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.