On Wednesday morning, Horizon Therapeutics (HZNP) announced its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results. Thanks to strong sales of its top drug, a gout treatment known as Krystexxa, the company beat both its revenue and earnings estimates.
Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $363.5 million, which is up 2.3% from last year. The biggest revenue driver for the company came from its orphan and rheumatology department, which brought in $269.8 million in Q4 2019, up 13.6% from Q4 2018. Sales of Krystexxa came in at $110.7 million, a 33% increase since last year. Horizon's second top-performing drug, Ravicti, is used to help prevent ammonia buildup in patients with urea cycle disorder. The drug's sales came in at $68.5 million for the quarter, a 14% increase from Q4 2018.
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Net income for the fourth quarter was $592.7 million. However, $555.9 million of that figure was due to income tax benefits it said is "related to an intra-company transfer of intellectual property assets." When looking at the income before tax, the figure is reduced to a $36.9 million net income -- a decline from Q4 2018 when net income before taxes was $52.6 million.
Surprising Wall Street
The pharmaceutical company managed to handily beat out Wall Street's expectations for the quarter. Analysts had a $349.2 million revenue target for the quarter, a figure that Horizon Therapeutics beat by $14.3 million. Earnings per share was expected to come in at $0.43, a far cry from the $2.84 EPS reported by Horizon. However, since most of this revenue came from income tax benefits, it's a slightly exaggerated figure.
