XOMA Corporation (NASDAQ:XOMA) is having an incredibly strong day in the market after reporting exceptional earnings after the closing bell yesterday. Here's what we saw from the report...
- Earnings Per Share – In terms of earnings per share, XOMA produced well ahead of expectations. In the fourth quarter analysts expected that the company would produce earnings in the amount of $0.15 per share. However, they actually reported revenue in the amount of $0.21 per share, well ahead of analyst expectations.
- Revenue – While earnings was overwhelmingly positive, XOMA posted one of the strongest revenue beats I've seen ever. According to The Street, the company was expected to produce revenue in the amount of $4.01 million. However, in the quarter, the company actually produced revenue in the amount of $48.18 million, more than 12 times expectations!
As you can see from the data above, the earnings release was overwhelmingly positive. In a statement, the company had the following to say with regard to the incredible results from the quarter:
The increase in full-year and fourth quarter 2015 revenues was due primarily to our licensing activity in the fourth quarter, including a $37 million upfront payment from Novartis, a $5 million upfront payment from Novo Nordisk (CO:NOVOb) and a $3.8 million payment from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE).
The CEO of XOMA, John Varian followed up with the statement below:
The transformation we initiated in the third quarter of last year – and now have completed in less than six months – was considerable in its scale and complexity, but essential to position XOMA to deliver our promising portfolio of endocrine assets...
How The Market Reacted To The News
As investors, we know that the news moves the market. So, it's no surprise that news of an overwhelmingly positive earnings report from XOMA would move the needle for the stock in a big way. Currently (11:12), the stock is trading at $0.93 per share after a gain of $0.04 per share or 5.06% thus far today.
What We Can Expect To See Moving Forward
Overall, I have a relatively bullish opinion of what we can expect to see from XOMA moving forward. First and foremost, I'm incredibly impressed with the partners the company has been able to bring on board over the past few months. Bringing in some of the largest players on the biotechnology field will likely lead to incredible improvements in XOMA's business as a whole. On top of that, I like what I'm seeing with regard to the pipeline the company currently has. At the moment, they have 3 preclinical candidates as well as one candidate in the end of Phase 1 and one candidate in the midst of Phase 2 testing. While I am a bit concerned about the company's cash flow, I believe that the positive aspects of the stock largely outweigh anything negative there is to say.