Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX), a $45.61 billion market cap biopharmaceutical company, has posted plenty of activities this year. From experiencing gains in stock price to posting eventful business moves, the financial news outlets are treated to something new about the stock almost daily. Known for developing and selling therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, this Boston, Massachusetts-based company has gained ground, just like many of its peers in the pharmaceuticals industry. With the company outperforming analyst expectations, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is becoming a go-to stock for traders focused on gainers.
Quarterly Earnings
In their Q1 earnings released on April 30, 2019, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) reaffirmed their growth momentum, beating analysts’ consensus estimates in earnings per share, and revenue, among other report segments.
The company posted an earnings per share of $1.14, up from $0.76 in the same quarter last year. Consensus estimates had put the stock’s EPS at $0.65. Vertex Pharmaceuticals reported revenue of $857 million for the quarter, also beating the analysts’ estimate of $853 million. It posted a net margin of 66.01% and a return on equity of 22.63%.
Based on the performance of the stock, some notable shareholders decided to up their stakes in this pharmaceuticals big name. FMR LLC boosted its stake by 19.3%, acquiring an extra 3,951,050 shares in the first quarter of 2019. BlackRock Inc. also raised its position by purchasing an additional 568,488 shares to hit 20,176,298 shares valued at $3.7 billion. Also upping their stake are Geode Capital Management LLC, Northern Trust Corp, and Norges Bank.
The Forecast
Even when a stock is performing well, traders are always guided by what the future holds for that given stock. So, what are the prospects for Vertex Pharmaceuticals? Should you pump your money into it?
Well, analysts expect the stock to post a year-over-year uptick in earnings and revenue when it releases its quarterly results for the period ended June 2019. Should the company’s results beat estimates again, it would be a good indicator that the stock’s future is bright. The Zacks consensus estimate puts the drugmaker’s earnings per share for the period at $1.04 and revenue at $883.94 million, a 17.5% increase compared to the same quarter last year. The estimates haven’t been revisited of late, but reading from the previous four quarters, it’s expected that the stock might just pull another surprise by beating estimates, having done so in all the previous four quarters.
Over the past three months, Zacks has revised the company’s full-year estimates quite a number of times. Interestingly, the analyst has pushed the expectations on the stock’s earnings by a clean 3.24%, indicating that the analyst’s sentiment on the stock is becoming even stronger.