Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CADX), a biopharmaceutical company that acquires and commercializes in-hospital therapies, jumped as much as 11% after reporting its third-quarter earnings results.
So what: For the quarter, Cadence reported a whopping 109% increase in total revenue to $29 million from $14.1 million in the year-ago period. The sales boost comes from the growing acceptance of its Ofirmev acetaminophen injection for the treatment of mild to moderate pain. Gross margin also improved to 66% from 56% in the year prior. Net loss for the quarter also shrank handily to just $6.9 million, or $0.08 per share, from $15.9 million, or $0.19 per share, in the year-ago period. The $0.08 loss perfectly matched expectations, but net product sales topped the consensus by a clean $2 million. Looking ahead, Cadence boosted its full-year revenue forecast to a new range of $107 million to $109 million, which is up from its prior guidance of $103 million to $105 million.
Now what: This was actually a fairly impressive quarter all the way around. It's clear that Ofirmev is being well accepted as a pain management injection and Cadence's revenue guidance boost over already lofty targets proves this. With most peak sales projections of $350 million to $400 million on Ofirmev, and Cadence's market value hovering around $450 million, I would suggest that -- presuming it stays on the path toward profitability in 2014 -- the stock may be a bit cheap here. For biotech-savvy enthusiasts out there who are willing to take on a bit more risk than the average investor, I would certainly suggest a deeper dive is in order and an add to your watchlist.
