Biohaven Pharmaceutical (NYSE:BHVN), a pharmaceutical company, shot up nearly 14% in trading yesterday as the company revealed blockbuster sales numbers around its migraine drug, Nurtec. Those gains have continued into this morning's trading session as well. With several analysts weighing in on the company recently and a consensus “buy” rating established, Biohaven is looking like a haven for investors quailing at broad-sector losses in the overall market.
Biohaven's Blockbuster Nurtec Results Drive the Company
Biohaven announced the results of Nurtec's sales late Tuesday, which brought a wave of investor interest in the company. Biohaven noted that it had sold $93 million worth of Nurtec in its orally dissolving tablet (ODT) form, which handily beat Wall Street forecasts looking for just over half that at $54.7 million. Better yet, Nurtec has only been approved for use in migraine treatments since May, which means not a lot of time to produce some spectacular results. Nurtec launched back in March 2020, however, which allowed it to gain some sales that way.
The gains were sufficiently rapid to gain attention from Piper Sandler's Christopher Raymond, who noted that Piper Sandler had expected gains from Nurtec, but not at this level. Nurtec is actually part of a wider field of migraine drugs that target a particular substance in the body, CGRP, or calcitonin gene-related peptides. There are already several other drugs in this field, including releases from Lundbeck, Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), and Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TEVA). Despite the fact that all of these beat Nurtec to the market, Nurtec has one key benefit: Nurtec is the only oral medicine among these. The rest are all provided by injection, a likely relief for any consumers scared of needles.
Since 2020, reports note, Nurtec has yielded around $200 million in sales, with a total of over 75,000 prescriptions written. Just in the first half of this year, Nurtec brought in about $137 million in sales, which means the bulk of Nurtec's sales have taken place in the last few months.
Nurtec is already prompting re-analysis of the sector, as the current consensus estimate of $250 million—and Piper Sandler's own then-optimistic estimate of $274 million—are all proving invalid. Based on the sales results of the other drugs in the field, Nurtec is well on its way to being the top dog in migraine treatment: Aimovig, Amgen's entrant, delivered $66 million in sales, and the current leader, Eli Lilly's Emgality, is clearly threatened by Nurtec's advance, having produced $120 million in first-quarter sales.
What Are Financial Analysts Saying About Biohaven Stock?
While the numbers for Nurtec speak for themselves, the state of the financial analyst pool—as determined by our latest research—speaks volumes in support of this pharmaceutical stock. The current consensus opinion among financial analysts is “buy”, a rating that's held steady for over two years now.
A year ago, the company had nine “buy” ratings and two “hold” to its credit. Six months ago, that was unchanged, and those ratios had held firm for almost six months straight. A shift began in April, when Biohaven stock added one more “buy” rating, and that leads us to today, where the company has 10 “buy” ratings and one “hold”.
The Biohaven price target, meanwhile, occupies a broad range. The current consensus target is $106.50, with a high of $140 and a low of $69. Both high and low are quite recent; the low comes from Morgan Stanley, who moved to that back in May on a price target drop from $76 to $69. The new high comes from Cantor Fitzgerald, who upgraded in early June from $125 to $140. With the stock seen trading around $114 this morning, there is some downside potential as the company trades well above the average target.
Recent movements have been comparatively mixed; four analysts have lowered price targets so far this year, including HC Wainwright, Canaccord Genuity, and SVB Leerink as well as Morgan Stanley. Four analysts have raised price targets, meanwhile, including Cowen, Mizuho, and Piper Sandler, as well as Cantor Fitzgerald. Cowen raised its target almost 50%, going from $90 to $130.
Less formal analysis has also proven noteworthy; yesterday, Biohaven saw an unusual surge in call options activity as 2,410 options were bought against the normal 618 seen, which is nearly four times higher than normal. The stock also recently hit a 52-week high on those growing Nurtec sales.
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