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Catalyst Pharmaceutical (CPRX) shares rallied 16.7% in the last trading session to close at $22.80. This move can be attributable to notable volume with a higher number of shares being traded than in a typical session. This compares to the stock's 11.7% loss over the past four weeks.
The sudden rise in the stock price was observed after Catalyst, along with its licensor, SERB, announced that it has entered into a settlement agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals regarding the Firdapse (amifampridine) patent litigation. The settlement agreement resolves the patent litigation brought by Catalyst and SERB on Teva for submitting an abbreviated new drug application to the FDA seeking marketing approval for a generic version of Firdapse 10 mg tablets before applicable patents expire.
This specialty drug company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.52 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -1.9%. Revenues are expected to be $132.71 million, up 20% from the year-ago quarter.
Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.
For Catalyst, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on CPRX going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Catalyst is part of the Zacks Medical - Drugs industry. Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 2.5% lower at $34.10. IONS has returned -8.6% in the past month.
For Ionis Pharmaceuticals , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -0.4% over the past month to -$1.13. This represents a change of -1783.3% from what the company reported a year ago. Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPRX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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