Is it a Good Time to Invest in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUPH)?
Canada-based Aurinia Pharmaceuticals AUPH makes medicines to treat autoimmune, kidney and rare diseases.
It presently markets Lupkynis (voclosporin), an oral therapy for treating active lupus nephritis (LN), a chronic and complex autoimmune disease. Lupkynis was launched in January 2021 and has seen strong demand trends and patient growth due to strong commercial execution. In the first half of 2023, sales of Lupkynis rose 52% year over year.
Patients converted from start forms to therapy was at an all-time high of 89% at the end of the second quarter. The company, concurrent with the second-quarter earnings release, also increased full-year sales expectations for Lupkynis. The company is working on driving patient awareness and activation, clinically differentiating Lupkynis and improving patient access to improve Lupkynis’ sales.
The stock of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has risen 89.1% so far this year against a decrease of 8.2% for the industry.
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Lupkynis was approved in the EU in September 2022, which should further boost sales. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ partner Otsuka has now launched Lupkynis in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland and Norway. Aurinia continues to study Lupkynis for use in expanded patient populations.
Aurinia believes that it has sufficient financial resources to fund its operations for at least the next few years.
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). In the past 60 days, the loss per share estimate for Aurinia Pharmaceuticals for 2023 has narrowed from 71 cents per share to 58 cents per share, while that for 2024 has narrowed from 43 cents to 28 cents.
Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked drug companies worth considering are Cardiol Therapeutics CRDL, Alpine Immune Sciences ALPN and Corcept Therapeutics CORT, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Estimates for Cardiol Therapeutics’ 2023 loss per share have narrowed from 41 cents per share to a loss of 36 cents per share over the past 60 days while those for 2024 have narrowed from a loss of 24 cents per share to a loss of 21 cents per share over the same timeframe. The stock of Cardiol Therapeutics has risen 74.6% so far this year.
Alpine’s stock has gained 62.3% so far this year. In the past 60 days, estimates for Alpine’s 2023 loss per share have narrowed from $1.43 to $1.18, while those for 2024 have improved from a loss of $1.73 to a loss of $1.47 per share.
ALPN’s earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark in the other two, delivering an average negative surprise of 79.65%.
In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Corcept’s earnings has increased from 62 cents per share to 78 cents for 2023. The bottom-line estimate has also improved from 61 cents to 83 cents for 2024 during the same time frame. Shares of the company have rallied 59.8% year to date.
CORT’s earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark in the other two, delivering an average surprise of 6.99%.
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Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated (CORT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (AUPH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. (ALPN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Cardiol Therapeutics Inc. (CRDL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
