Intra-Cellular Therapies (ITCI) shares soared 14.9% in the last trading session to close at $94.87. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 1% loss over the past four weeks.
The sudden soaring of the stock price was observed after ITCI announced that it has entered into a settlement agreement with Sandoz regarding the Caplyta (lumateperone) patent litigation. The settlement agreement resolves the patent litigation brought by Intra-Cellular on Sandoz for submitting an abbreviated new drug application to the FDA seeking marketing approval for a generic version of Caplyta in the United States before applicable patents expire. The settlement agreement allows Sandoz to start selling generic versions of Caplyta on July 1, 2040, or earlier under specific conditions. The stock price rally has also likely been fueled by a Bloomberg article which claims that J&J is in talks to buy ITCI for $10 billion.
This biopharmaceutical company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.05 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +83.3%. Revenues are expected to be $192.86 million, up 46% from the year-ago quarter.
While earnings and revenue growth expectations are important in evaluating the potential strength in a stock, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
For Intra-Cellular, 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 ITCI 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 >>>>
Intra-Cellular is a member of the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. One other stock in the same industry, Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc. (RNAC), finished the last trading session 0.5% lower at $16.84. RNAC has returned -15.9% over the past month.
Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc.'s consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at -$0.78. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +67.5%. Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc. currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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