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Why Incyte Stock Gained 11% in August

By Demitri Kalogeropoulos – Sep 6, 2018 at 11:34AM

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Shares recovered some of their recent losses following encouraging second-quarter results.

What happened 

Biotech company Incyte (INCY -5.40%) outpaced the market last month by rising 11% compared to a 3% increase in the S&P 500, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

^SPX Chart

^SPX data by YCharts.

The rally still left many shareholders in negative territory as the stock is down sharply over the last year. 

So what

Investors were generally happy with the second-quarter results that Incyte announced on the last day of July. That report showed continued growth for the blockbuster Jakafi drug and steady contributions from Iclusig, which treats certain types of leukemia. Overall, product sales grew 29%. 

Scientists performing clinical research.

Image source: Getty Images.

Now what

Future revenue gains should continue to flow from the recent U.S. approval for its Olumiant rheumatoid arthritis drug. Looking further out, executives are optimistic about a pipeline that includes a few promising late-stage candidates. None of these are expected to replace the revenue that investors had hoped Incyte would see from its failed epacadostat lung cancer therapy trial. But, with very little debt on its books, the company has time and resources to continue directing toward those next potential hit treatments. 

Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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