Catalyst (CPRX) Stock Jumps 10%: Will It Continue to Soar?
Catalyst Pharmaceutical CPRX shares rallied 10% in the last trading session to close at $8.51. 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 21.7% gain over the past four weeks.
Share price rose for the second consecutive day after CPRX announced that it has reached a settlement with Jacobus Pharmaceutical Company, Inc. and PANTHERx Rare LLC, with regard to the ongoing patent infringement litigation over its sole-marketed drug, Firdapse (amifampridine), which is approved to treat Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (“LEMS”) in adult patients.
This specialty drug company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.17 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +6.3%. Revenues are expected to be $49.29 million, up 35.5% 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 #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Catalyst is a member of the Zacks Medical - Drugs industry. One other stock in the same industry, Nektar Therapeutics NKTR, finished the last trading session 1.4% lower at $3.53. NKTR has returned 9.5% over the past month.
For Nektar , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at -$1.01. This represents a change of -46.4% from what the company reported a year ago. Nektar currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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