IGI Laboratories (IG +0.00%) certainly hasn't been shy recently about putting its beefy balance sheet to work. The specialty generic pharmaceutical manufacturer has been making news quite a bit this month after announcing not one, but two completed strategic acquisitions that appear to position the company for continued strong growth.
Let's dig in.
Is "branded generic" an oxymoron?
In the first deal, announced earlier in the month, IGI stated that it acquired three injectable products from Concordia Pharmaceuticals for $10 million in cash.
Each of the three products is already on the market producing revenue, and although each of the drugs has a branded name, the company was quick to point out that they compete in markets containing generics, so it firmly believes the products will fit well with the company's generic focus. As a reminder, IGI's strategy is focused on creating or acquiring generic products that compete in the "topical, injectable, complex, and ophthalmic" markets, or to use the company's own language, the "TICO" markets, a strategy that has certainly worked out well over the past few years.
Importantly for investors, the company expects this deal will begin to create value for shareholders immediately, as these products should add revenue to the top line in both the current quarter and full year. While exact sales figures for the drugs were not released, the company did note that the combined addressable market for these three drugs is around $26 million in the U.S. alone.
Image source: IGI.
Bigger and bolder
While that previously-announced deal looks like it holds the potential to be a meaningful contributor to near-term financial results, the company made an even bigger acquisition announcement earlier today. IGI announced it would be acquiring the assets of Alveda Pharmaceuticals for just over $36 million in U.S. dollars. Alvdea is a Canadian generic pharmaceutical company that creates injectable pharmaceutical products, and the company currently boasts 17 molecules on the market in 36 different injectable formats. Beyond the drugs already on the market, the company boasts eight products in the pipeline, with four of them already pending approval by the Canadian regulatory agency.
Unlike the first acquisition, in this more-recent deal IGI was willing to supply investors with sales information about these compounds, and the numbers certainly look good. For the fiscal year ending September 30, Alveda's products produced just over $12 million in revenue, or just about $3 million per quarter.
While that number may not sound huge in absolute terms, it's important to remember that in the last quarter, IGI produced total revenue of about $8.9 million, so even if you assume no organic growth, this transaction could easily provide a huge boost to IGI in the fourth quarter and beyond.
Now what?
I must admit that I'm a fan of both of these deals, and since the company had more than $150 million in cash on its balance sheet as of June 30, the company has plenty of fire power to get these deals done quickly.
During last quarter's reported results, the company told investors that it expected to reach operating margin break-even by the fourth quarter of this year. With the immediate financial gain from these two transactions, the company shouldn't have any problems achieving its target.
When you add these recently completed deals to the huge backlog of pending ANDA submissions, which for the company now total 31 products with an addressable market over $1.5 billion, it's easy to see IGI continuing to grow very quickly in the years ahead. Even after today's stock price pop, it could be a good time to add a few shares of this company to the speculative portion of your portfolio.
