Sanofi stock inched higher Thursday after the Swiss pharma giant beat Wall Street's quarterly views on the back of its blockbuster drug, Dupixent.
Dupixent sales rocketed almost 46% in constant currency to nearly $1.7 billion. Sanofi records sales of Dupixent — a treatment for eczema, asthma and a nasal condition — while paying collaboration revenue to partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
Growth was even more bullish on a strict as-reported basis as Dupixent sales surged more than 54%. Total prescriptions popped 43% year over year while new prescriptions jumped 32%.
Sanofi stock recovered from earlier losses and gained a fraction at the closing, ending the regular session at 54.41.
Sanofi Stock: Overall Sales, EPS Climb
Overall, sales climbed almost 9% to $10.48 billion and beat the Street's projection for $10.34 billion, FactSet reported. Adjusted earnings also edged higher to $1.02 per share, beating expectations by a nickel, using Thursday's exchange rate.
On a segment basis, the strongest growth came from Sanofi's specialty care business — driven by the strong contribution from Dupixent. Sanofi's consumer health business tacked on 17% growth, helped by sales of its cold and pain meds.
The company also noted vaccine sales advanced almost 7% amid the gradual recovery from travel-mandated vaccines. But sales of general medicines fell a fraction.
Sanofi called for low double-digit earnings growth in constant currency. That was in line with Sanofi stock analysts' forecast for 10.4% adjusted per-share earnings growth.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
