Shares of ESPERION Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ESPR) have plunged premarket on Thursday after several institutions downgraded the stock following its Q1 earnings report.
The company missed on earnings, reporting an EPS of -$3.50 versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of -$2.08 per share.
Its revenue also missed, with the pharmaceutical company reporting $8 million in revenue, again lower than estimates, but above the $1.8 million reported in Q1 2020.
Prescriptions grew 46% sequentially, and ESPERION said it strengthened its balance sheet with $80 Million from the expanded Daiichi Sankyo agreement and exercise of the third tranche of the Oberland Capital Funding agreement.
ESPERION's stock price has plunged following the report and reaction, with its shares now trading at $17.91, down over 30% premarket.
Stifel downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy, saying that the bull case for the stock is “off the table”. Lowering the price target to $20 from $37, analyst Derek Archila said he sees little sign of sales growth for Nexletol/Nexlizet in the near term.
JMP Securities analyst Jason Butler lowered its price target to $111 from $191, saying that its Q1 results missed expectations due to the negative impacts on Nexletol/Nexlizet US net price and a one-time legal expense, but it should be well-positioned to execute on the US launch.
Elsewhere, Credit Suisse lowered ESPERION's price target to $36 from $45, keeping an Outperform rating, while Northland lowered their price target to $24 from $30.
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